Steven Edward Hatch had not consumed alcohol or drugs in the hours before he killed his 10-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself back in March, according to the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The bodies of Hatch and his son Caleb were found around 9:30a.m. March 26 inside a Sahuarita residence owned by Hatch’s estranged wife. The couple were involved in a divorce through the Pima County Superior Court and were scheduled to do a court-ordered custody swap earlier in the morning at a nearby public location.
When Hatch didn’t show up with the boy, his wife returned home and made the gruesome discovery. It’s unclear how Hatch gained entrance to his former home, according to Sahuarita Police Lt. Juan Zamora. Public records show investigators located a note which indicated Hatch, 49, intended to commit suicide.
Zamora confirmed to Arizona Daily Independent that at least one search warrant was executed at another location after the murder. Detectives have been waiting for the final OME reports to close out the investigation.
The autopsy report states Caleb Hatch was found fully clothed on his bed. He had been shot once in the head with the gun muzzle at “near contact” range. The report makes no mention of defensive wounds on the boy’s body, and postmortem toxicology tests came back negative for Hatch and his son..
The OME report also describes the autopsy performed on Hatch, who had two gunshot wounds that could have involved the same bullet. The fatal wound was caused when Hatch placed the muzzle of the weapon directly against his right temple, but he also had an entry and exit wound on his left arm.
Court records show Michele Lee Hatch filed for divorce in November. During a Jan. 22 hearing, a judge issued a multi-point temporary order related to shared parenting time and legal decision-making authority. The order also addressed issues with Steven Hatch’s conduct.
“Respondent’s behavior in public shall not include any yelling or disparaging comments about or to the minor child or to anyone else in the child’s presence,” the judge ordered, adding that Steven Hatch was required to move out of the marital home in Sahuarita by Feb. 1.
Caleb Hatch was survived by his mother and six older siblings.