Police say a man walked into a Mountain Grove home killing three people before turning the gun on himself. Nearly a week after that murder suicide, KSPR looked through several years’ worth of court documents to see why the convicted criminal wasn’t behind bars.

The prosecutor says Harold “Sonny” Mead Jr. was free on bond. Mead was waiting to see if the state would revoke his probation but that hearing couldn't come fast enough for the three victims.

KSPR discovered letters written by Mead that may explain his state of mind when he killed his wife, her sister, and their mother. In the months leading up to the triple murder suicide inside a Mountain Grove home, Mead wrote the judge handling his probation revocation. Mead wrote he was hearing voices telling him to hurt himself. Mead's dad also wrote the judge saying his son was bi-polar and not taking the proper medication.

Wright County Prosecutor Jason MacPherson says, “I never saw this coming out of Sonny Mead. I didn't see him as a violent person. I knew he had problems with depression and substance abuse," said Wright County Prosecutor Jason MacPherson.
He brought in a special prosecutor to handle Mead's most recent court cases and probation violation. MacPherson was Mead’s attorney on a felony drug charge. Mead was on probation until 2009 for that same felony drug charge. Since then, he’s been charged with felony receiving stolen property, two misdemeanor assaults and one unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. However, his probation had not been revoked.

"I've spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering what we could have done better," MacPherson said. He says nothing illegal or negligent was done but he says hindsight is 20/20.
"His prior offenses were property offenses, stealing animals, drug offenses," the prosecutor said.
Even though Mead hadn't been charged with violent crimes, he was arrested for trespassing at the same home he killed his estranged wife April Mead, April's mother Ellen Loman, and April's 10-year-old sister Lakeisha Davault.

Earlier this year Mead was also charged with assaulting his parents on the same day he tried to commit suicide. MacPherson says his probation was not revoked because the victims were not cooperating. Mead was supposed to have a probation revocation hearing on the day of the killings but it was continued by Mead's public defender so she could prepare her case.
“You can what if forever. What if he would have died when he tried to kill himself?" MacPherson said.
The prosecutor says he will continue to “what if" while he goes over the case with a fine tooth comb.
“This will weigh heavily on my mind whenever someone asks for bail because this can happen even when you don't expect it," MacPherson said.

Since April Mead had filed for an order of protection against Harold Mead Jr. two days before her death, the prosecutor wants to start a program that would give law enforcement officers a list of order of protections that have been filed. He says that way officers can keep an eye out for potential violence. MacPherson also says he wants to have all reported incidents, even those that might not lead to charges, be filed in court cases of defendants who are on probation. MacPherson says in this case they didn't know all of the facts to prevent this from happening.