ALSO READ: Dad Of Two Girls Shot In Byron Murder-Suicide Pleads, “Pray For My Baby”
The Wyoming woman who shot her four daughters then herself Monday suffered from depression and other wracking mental health struggles, her husband told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Cliff Harshman, husband of Tranyelle Harshman, gave a tearful phone interview in which he urges the public to consider his wife’s struggles, and that her death is a loss to him as well.
“My wife was not a monster,” said Harshman, while weeping.
He began the interview voicing frustration with how quickly news spread of his wife’s suspected murder-suicide before people had the chance to rationalize its possible triggers.
Tranyelle had been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, post-partum depression and standard depression, Cliff said.
“Most people don’t understand how that affects the brain. It’s a chemical imbalance,” he said. “And it can be exacerbated by trying to fix it with medication.”
Cliff Harshman declined to go into the specifics of his wife’s treatment, but said she’d been seeking help and receiving treatment.
Harshman is the biological father of the two younger girls, ages 2 and 3, who died on scene Monday, but he’s been raising the older two, ages 7 and 9, as well, he said.
The 7-year-old, Olivia, is fighting for her life in Salt Lake City with her father Quinn Blackmer by her side. The 9-year-old, Brailey, died on scene Monday.
Tranyelle Harshman, 32, died Tuesday afternoon in a hospital in Billings, Montana.
Cliff got to tell her goodbye, though she was unresponsive, he said.
‘Out Of Character’
Despite her struggles — including a long bout of post-partum depression — Tranyelle had never gotten that dark before, said Cliff.
“This is so out of character. It’s unbelievable what had happened,” he said. “We’d been getting her help, and along the way something didn’t work.”
He remembers Tranyelle as a loving mother and an incredible wife.
“As angry as I may be with her, I still love her — and I still lost her as well,” he said.
Cliff pondered whether it was her fierce motherly love that factored into her sudden and suicidal snap, as if “she wasn’t going to leave the kids alone.”
The school-age children attended public school normally, he said. They were home suffering from the flu Monday, Cliff said.
Tranyelle had called 911 at 1:29 p.m. Monday to tell the dispatcher her kids had been shot and where law enforcement agents could find them. The dispatcher tried to keep Tranyelle on the phone, but the woman said it was “too late,” according to an earlier statement by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office. She hung up and shot herself moments later.
Cliff was working in Southern California at that time, since his job often sends him out of state.
He rushed home without even his extra clothes when he heard the news, he said, adding that he’s been staying at a hotel since the incident.
He returned home briefly Tuesday to “chase off a reporter,” he said, recalling the incident with wry humor through his tears.
Pray For Olivia
Cliff echoed what Tranyelle’s ex-husband and the father to the two older girls, Quinn Blackmer, also told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday: Pray for Olivia.
Though the two dads didn’t get along well in the years after Blackmer and Tranyelle Harshman’s divorce, they’re leaning on each other now, they both said.
“I was thankful for (Blackmer),” said Cliff.
Cliff is struggling against logistics: dealing with organ donation people in Billings, waiting for the forensics team in Lovell, Wyoming, to release his children’s bodies to him so he can start funeral preparations. All he can do now is live from breath to breath — and having Blackmer in his life is a ray of light in all the tragedy, he said
Cliff loves Olivia as his own, he added.
As for Blackmer, he voiced gratitude for Cliff and said the man has been asking constantly after Olivia’s wellbeing and praying for her.
‘So Thankful For The Community That I Have'
Cliff Harshman is originally from Powell, but he and Tranyelle found a house they loved in Byron, population 562, just over a year ago and decided to live there.
Cliff is a small-town type, and his wife was the type who “could exist anywhere,” he said.
In the Big Horn Basin area and beyond it, Cliff has been startled by the amount of help he’s received.
The hotel where he’s staying refused to take his money. The Murdoch’s in Powell donated clothes to him since he left his change of clothes in California and has not been staying in his home — where a cleaning crew remained all day Tuesday.
“My support system is almost sickening to me because I hate accepting gifts,” said Cliff, adding, “I’m so thankful for the community that I have.”
Cliff Harshman and Quinn Blackmer confirmed two GoFundMe campaigns as legitimate: one Cliff’s coworker created to support him, and another a woman created to support Olivia.
Besides just breathing and dealing with each new task that surfaces, Cliff is focused right now on getting to Salt Lake City to see Olivia as soon as he can.
He said he’s ready for the long haul, for her.
“I can only assume this is going to be a long recovery for Olivia,” he said. “Whether it’s just in the hospital, or mentally.”
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
