A quiet San Diego neighborhood woke to an unimaginable tragedy on September 16, 2026.
Inside a family home in the San Carlos neighborhood, police discovered three people dead: David Voight, 56, his wife Amy Voight, 54, and their 13-year-old daughter.
All three appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds, according to preliminary information released by the San Diego Police Department. A firearm was recovered inside the residence, there were no signs of forced entry, and investigators described the deaths as an isolated incident with no apparent danger to the surrounding community. (NBC San Diego)
But in the days since, Amy’s parents have revealed troubling details about what they say was happening inside the family before the deaths.
David was a longtime Navy veteran who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to his in-laws, his behavior had recently changed as he struggled with worsening mental-health symptoms.
And just one day before the family was found dead, they say Amy had tried to find help for her husband. (The Guardian)
A neighbor knew something wasn’t right
The first warning may have come the night before the bodies were discovered.
A neighbor later told authorities that she believed she heard gunshots at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15.
She tried to reach the family.
There was no response.
The following morning, another detail alarmed her: the couple’s teenage daughter hadn’t left for school.
The neighbor knew the family well enough to have access to their house because she regularly dog-sat for them. Concerned, she entered the home. (NBC San Diego)
What she discovered prompted an immediate 911 call.
At approximately 8:18 a.m., San Diego police officers were dispatched to the residence in the 6800 block of Boulder Lake Avenue. (ABC 10 News San Diego KGTV)
The neighbor had found two adults unresponsive.
She was also worried because she couldn’t locate their daughter.
Police found the couple first
When officers arrived, they found David and Amy inside the home.
Both were pronounced dead.
Police then searched the residence for the couple’s daughter.
They found her body inside as well.
She was only 13.
The girl’s name was initially withheld publicly, something authorities commonly do when dealing with a minor victim.
Preliminary evidence indicated that all three family members had died from gunshot wounds. Investigators also recovered a firearm from the residence. (NBC San Diego)
Police did not find evidence of forced entry.
They also told residents that the incident appeared isolated and that they were not searching the neighborhood for an outstanding suspect. (NBC San Diego)
But exactly what happened inside the home remained under investigation.
Their daughter was an eighth-grade student
The tragedy quickly spread beyond the family’s street.
Their daughter attended Pershing Middle School.
That Wednesday, Principal Kristy Aragon sent a message to school families confirming the unexpected death of an eighth-grade student.
The school expressed its condolences to those closest to the girl and her family. (Times of San Diego)
For neighbors, the news was devastating.
One nearby resident told NBC 7 that his own daughter attended school with the 13-year-old. (NBC San Diego)
What had initially looked like an emergency at one house had suddenly become a loss felt by an entire school community.
Amy’s parents described a family they loved deeply
As investigators worked to establish what happened, Amy’s parents, Mary and Gerald Austin, began speaking publicly about their daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.
Their descriptions made the circumstances even more difficult to comprehend.
Amy was highly accomplished.
According to her father, she worked for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as a digital forensic examiner. (The Guardian)
Her parents described her as exceptionally intelligent and a devoted mother.
David had spent decades in the Navy.
Gerald Austin said his son-in-law served as an officer and had been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. (The Guardian)
This wasn’t, according to the family, a household that had always seemed to be in obvious crisis.
But recently, something had changed.
Amy’s mother said she could see something was wrong
Mary Austin told reporters that David had been experiencing worsening symptoms that the family associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
His behavior had become concerning enough that Amy’s parents urged their daughter to get him help.
Mary recalled being able to see a change physically.
David appeared restless and fidgety, she said, and something seemed deeply wrong. (The Guardian)
The family believed his military experiences had left lasting psychological wounds.
Gerald Austin subsequently told reporters that he believed PTSD played a role in the tragedy. That remains the family’s belief, however, rather than a conclusion announced by investigators. (The Guardian)
That distinction matters.
Police had not publicly established exactly who fired the fatal shots in their initial statements, and the Medical Examiner was tasked with formally determining the cause and manner of each death. (Patch)
The day before the deaths, Amy reportedly tried to get help
Perhaps the most painful detail emerged afterward.
According to Amy’s parents, she had sought mental-health assistance for David shortly before the family died.
They alleged that she was unable to obtain the services she wanted because there was no appointment.
But the Department of Veterans Affairs disputes that account.
The VA told reporters that it couldn’t discuss David’s individual case because of medical privacy laws, while saying the broader allegation about access to VA services was inaccurate. (The Guardian)
The department’s press secretary, Quinn Slaven, said VA healthcare facilities provide same-day mental-health care to veterans who need it. (The Guardian)
Because the VA cannot publicly disclose David’s private medical information, there remains a significant gap between the family’s account and what the agency can confirm.
What is clear is that Amy’s parents believed their daughter recognized something was badly wrong and was trying to get her husband assistance.
Then, within roughly a day, the entire family was dead.
David’s military service became part of the family’s search for answers
David’s service history has become central to the way Amy’s parents are trying to understand what happened.
He had served in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Gerald Austin.
The family said David had struggled with PTSD, anxiety and depression and that his condition appeared to worsen shortly before the deaths. (The Guardian)
PTSD can affect veterans and civilians alike, but experiencing PTSD does not mean someone will become violent. Most people living with PTSD do not commit acts of violence.
That makes it important not to turn David’s reported diagnosis into a simple explanation for three deaths.
Investigators still have to establish what happened inside that house.
There was no sign someone had broken into the house
One early finding helped narrow the investigation.
Police said they saw no evidence of forced entry. (NBC San Diego)
A firearm was recovered inside.
Authorities also said the incident appeared isolated and that there was no immediate danger to neighbors.
But investigators initially stopped short of publicly identifying who they believed fired the weapon.
That means descriptions of the deaths as a murder-suicide should be treated cautiously unless and until investigators or the Medical Examiner formally establish the circumstances.
Early evidence can point detectives in a direction without constituting a final determination.
The family’s last hours remain at the center of the investigation
The timeline currently begins to sharpen on Tuesday evening.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., a neighbor believed she heard gunshots.
Attempts to contact the family were unsuccessful.
By Wednesday morning, their daughter hadn’t appeared to leave for school.
The neighbor entered the house and discovered the adults.
Police were called shortly after 8:18 a.m.
Officers then discovered the 13-year-old.
There were no signs of forced entry.
A gun was recovered.
And all three appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds. (NBC San Diego)
Those facts create a picture of the scene.
They don’t yet answer every question about what happened there.
Amy’s parents are now left grieving three people at once
Behind the investigation are grandparents who lost their daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law in a single night.
Mary and Gerald Austin spoke warmly about Amy.
They also spoke with compassion about David, even while describing his worsening struggles before the deaths.
Their granddaughter, meanwhile, was remembered as particularly close to her grandmother.
The family wasn’t talking about strangers reduced to names in a police report.
These were three intertwined lives.
A Navy veteran.
A woman whose career involved investigating evidence for NCIS.
And their middle-school-aged daughter.
Investigators still have important questions to answer
The San Diego County Medical Examiner was expected to conduct autopsies to formally establish the cause and manner of each death. (The Guardian)
Homicide detectives were also continuing their investigation.
Until those findings are complete, several details should remain separated from one another.
It is established that David, Amy and their daughter were found dead with apparent gunshot wounds.
It is established that investigators recovered a firearm.
It is established that police found no obvious evidence of forced entry and said there was no apparent ongoing threat to the public.
And Amy’s parents have said David was experiencing worsening mental-health difficulties shortly before the deaths. (NBC San Diego)
But the precise sequence of events inside the house — including who fired each shot — was not established in the initial police information.
A family photograph can never show what is happening behind closed doors
Photographs of the Voight family capture the ordinary things photographs usually do: smiles, trips and moments together.
They cannot show what somebody is experiencing privately.
And they certainly cannot explain what happened during one devastating night in September.
What Amy’s parents have described is a family that had reached a moment of serious concern and was trying to find help.
What investigators found the following morning was irreversible.
For now, the most responsible version of their story is also the simplest.
Amy Voight, David Voight and their 13-year-old daughter died inside their San Diego home.
Their deaths remain the subject of a homicide investigation, and medical examiners are responsible for establishing precisely how each family member died. (Patch)
For the relatives, neighbors and classmates left behind, however, the loss is already painfully certain: an entire family was gone by morning.
For more stories on heartbreaking losses, you can read about Cindy Crawford’s son, Presley Gerber, who tragically died at 27 and the simple things he once wanted from life.
