Britt Jones
Warning: This article contains mentions of suicide and child death that some readers may find upsetting
A US father-of-three was shot and killed by his wife along with his two children, just after she uploaded a TikTok video detailing their struggles.
Ryan Long of New Hampshire had recently been diagnosed with brain cancer, and lived at home with wife Emily, 34, son Parker, 8, daughter Ryan, 6, and their three-year-old toddler.
However, on Monday 18 August, all members of the Long family, with the exception of their toddler, were found dead in their home in an apparent murder-suicide.
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As per WMUR and WGME, an autopsy conducted on the family found that Emily shot and killed her husband and two children before shooting herself.
It detailed that both children died from a single gunshot wound to the head, and so did Emily.
However, Ryan had been shot multiple times.
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The ruling listed Emily’s death as a suicide and Ryan’s and his children’s deaths as as a homicide.
The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office said of the deaths, as per the Foster's Daily Democrat: "Based upon the information available at this time, it appears that in the early morning hours of Monday, August 18, 2025, Ms. Long took a handgun from the home and caused the deaths of Ryan Long and her two children, Parker and Ryan, and then took her own life immediately thereafter.”
Before his death, Ryan was a psychologist at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, and Emily worked as director of operations at a Wing-Itz restaurant chain.
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On TikTok, Emily had been documenting her family’s journey after her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, called glioblastoma.
Sadly for the family, Ryan’s diagnosis was terminal and Emily explained how she and her children were struggling.
In her last video, two days before they were shot, Emily explained that she was trying to overcome her depression.
She said in the video: “All I want to do is hide under a blanket with my kids, but that isn't healthy for them and it's not healthy for me.
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“Today I decided I need to make a conscious effort to shift my mindset. I'm getting out of this depression whether I want to or not.”
The mom-of-three added: “I am determined to create normalcy... I’m trying to get myself out of the rut, our kids are definitely struggling, and now I’m starting to notice some changes in our 3-year-old.”
Separately, she posted a video where she detailed how hard it had been to tell her children about Ryan’s condition, explaining that their two eldest understood what was to come, but their youngest did not.
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On 11 May, she captioned on of her videos: “Want to watch someone actually fall apart before your very eyes? I swear, this cancer will be the thing that breaks me.”
As for the motive, Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati told WCAX that it is ‘difficult’ to know.
He said: “One of the biggest questions they have right now is motive, why?
“And I think that's probably one of the more difficult things that they are trying to grasp to understand how this came to be.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Or, if you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.