A mother and her three daughters in Indiana were reportedly killed by her husband, who then killed himself. The woman, Briana Payne had a strained relationship with her husband, which likely played a role in the family of five being found dead in their trailer.
Briana Payne and her daughters are being remembered for being good people, taken too soon. And while those close to them may have some insight into what may have caused the friction, sadly they will never know for sure.
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On February 21, 2025, Lake Station Police Department officers were sent to perform a welfare check, the department said in a Facebook post. Inside the mobile home, they found five people dead. According to the post, they identified the five bodies the following day. Briana Payne, 27, and her three daughters: Aurorah, Ava, and Alayna, ages 7, 6, and 4, were identified. Her 31-year-old husband, Robert Payne, was also identified.
Briana and her daughters’ deaths were ruled homicides by gunshot wound. They ruled Robert Payne’s death suicide by gunshot.
“On behalf of the Lake Station Police Department, we offer our sincerest condolences to the family affected by this tragic event,” they wrote.
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Briana’s mother, Lili Owens, spoke with ABC7 Chicago said it’s “quiet” now that her daughter and granddaughters have died. “They were little tornadoes, absolute tornadoes. They would just level a place when they went through. You knew they had been there,” she said, calling them “joys.”
“She went out of her way to help anybody, anytime, anywhere, whatever they needed,” she said of her daughter.
Owens also revealed that in the days leading up to her death, Briana Payne had told her husband she wanted a divorce. Problems between the couple had reportedly been mounting.
Sandy Goodman was the family’s neighbor for five years. She was shocked by their deaths, but told WBBM that trouble was brewing. “They were arguing a lot for the last few days,” she said. “I knew there was something weird because the cars weren’t moved, and they go [out] every day.”
Briana’s former employer, Cathryn Presley, told ABC7 Chicago that the woman left her job at Presley’s child care facility because of Robert Payne. “Anybody that wanted to get close to her or the kids, he wanted to create isolation,” Presley said. “We all knew that there were red flags.”
A GoFundMe has been created to help with funeral costs for Briana and her three children. “Losing Briana and her daughters feels like losing a piece of our hearts. There’s an emptiness now in our community where their light and energy used to be. It’s hard to imagine moving forward without them. They deserved so much more time, so many more days to laugh and grow,” the fundraiser reads.
Note: If you or any of your loved ones are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can always reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988. They are available 24/7 by phone or online chat.
