Fatal Custody

Hope Hooton and Kellie Elliott feared their children were unsafe with their fathers. Hope sought protection after her husband threatened suicide and later experienced a psychiatric crisis, while Kellie documented years of domestic violence and abuse. Despite these warning signs, both fathers had unsupervised time with their children and later killed them. Fault Lines examines how evidence of danger can be missed by family courts, the push for equal custody, and proposed changes to protect families.