The young Wisconsin school killer’s troubled home life has been revealed in court documents that exposed how she was in therapy.
Natalie Rupnow, 15, killed two people, as well as herself, and injured six others after unleashing hell at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday.
But according to court documents seen by The Washington Postthe killer’s parents divorced and remarried several times and she had been in therapy.
Rupnow, who also went by the name Samantha, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after she opened fire in a study hall at the private school in Madison.
A substitute teacher and three students had been taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them had been released Monday evening.
Police have released few details about the teenage shooter as they continue their investigation into the motive behind the incident.
However, court documents have pointed to an uncertain childhood for Rupnow, whose parental custody arrangements often involved moving her from home every two to three days.
While it is too early to say what exactly led to Monday’s shooting, Jillian Peterson, a forensic psychologist, told the newspaper that childhood trauma is often the driving force behind such incidents.
Natalie Rupnow, 15, killed two people, as well as herself, and injured six others after unleashing hell at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday
Police confirmed they spoke with father Jeff Rupnow (pictured) and other family members, who were cooperative. Court documents revealed that the teenage shooter had a difficult home life
Jeff Rupnow shared a photo of one of his daughters being encouraged by her father to handle and fire guns. Mr Rupnow shared a photo (above) on Facebook at a local shooting range in August
According to court documents, Rupnow’s parents, Mellissa and Jeff Rupnow, married for the first time two years after her birth in 2011.
Mellissa had been married and divorced before, and she had another daughter, 20, with another man she never married.
Court records showed Rupnow’s half-sister had other permanent legal guardians.
Jeff and Mellissa first divorced in 2014, where they agreed to joint legal custody of Rupnow, but specified that she would live primarily with her mother.
The couple subsequently remarried in 2017 and divorced for a second time in 2020, where they once again agreed to share custody of their daughter.
Rupnow then spent a more even amount of time between her two parents: two days with her father, two days with her mother, and then three more with her father, before flipping the schedule the following week.
Not long after Rupnow’s parents separated for the second time, the couple remarried again — but by April 2021, they had filed for a third divorce.
A judge approved it a month later, but noted that “the parties were admonished about remarriage,” court records show.
Over a year later, in July 2022, the parents agreed that they would share legal custody of the young girl, but that she would now mostly live with Jeff.
By then, Rupnow had been enrolled in therapy, which was supposed to help her make decisions about which parent to spend her weekends with, records show.
Abundant Life is a non-denominational Christian school – from kindergarten to high school – with approximately 420 students
The 2022 custody papers stated, “The parents report an overall positive co-parenting relationship and will continue to communicate with each other via text messages and phone calls.”
Jeff Rupnow has shared several photos of his daughter on social media over the years – all the way back to her birth in 2009.
The father is working with police as they try to determine a motive for the tragedy and how the teen gained access to the weapon she used, believed to be a 9mm pistol.
On his Facebook, Jeff uploaded a photo from August showing his daughter at a shooting range.
She can be seen wearing a black shirt with the name of the band KMFDM.
The German industrial rock band’s lyrics were quoted by the students who committed the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, which killed thirteen people.
He was asked by a friend if it was his daughter in the image. He replied: “This spring I joined the NBSC (North Bristol Shooting Club) and we have loved every second of it.
The NBSC – or North Bristol Sportsman’s Club – is a gun club in Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison, that offers annual family memberships for just $90, according to its website.
Investigators said Tuesday they are focusing on determining a motive for the deadly school shooting.
The shooting left two dead and six injured, two of whom are in critical condition. A family is seen leaving the reunification center after the tragedy
Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, said investigators were aware of a “manifesto, if you want to call it that, or a letter of some sort” posted by someone who may have known the shooter, 15-year-old college student Natalie Rupnow .
“We haven’t been able to locate that person yet, but we’re going to work on that today,” Barnes told CNN.
“We’ll also look through (Rupnow’s) effects, whether she had a computer or cell phone, to see if there are any transmissions between her and anyone else, and that will give us an idea of what kind of planning.”
Chief Barnes said they are trying to piece together a timeline of the shooter’s final hours before she left for school.
Barnes said they have asked the ATF to determine the origin of the gun used in the shooting and how the 15-year-old got his hands on it.
He said he is unsure if the gun was owned or possessed by her parents.
When asked if her parents could be charged with a crime, Barnes said they volunteered information, but he also wanted to see if the parents were negligent.
But right now he says that doesn’t seem to be the case.