Background: Rooms at the Great Wolf Lodge, in Scotrun, Pocono Township, Pennsylvania (WPVI/YouTube). Inset: Metallica Harrison, the boy identified as T.H., and Charles Harrison (Facebook).
A woman was on vacation with her husband and 3-year-old son in Pennsylvania when she used a butcher knife to fatally stab them both before trying unsuccessfully to do the same to herself, authorities said.
Metallica Harrison, 27, has been charged with two counts of criminal homicide, and she has been booked into the Monroe County Jail without bail, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Monroe County District Attorney Mike Mancuso identified the victims in an affidavit of probable cause as Charles Harrison, whose age is unclear, and T.H., the child victim.
On Sept. 21, the family of three checked into the Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, Pocono Township, Pennsylvania. The resort brands itself as a family-friendly indoor water park for both day trips and longer stays.
On Oct. 5, the family extended its stay to Tuesday. But two days before that planned checkout, things changed.
According to video surveillance cited in the court document, the family entered its room together for the final time at about 6:50 p.m. on Sunday. About an hour later, Metallica Harrison left the room and used a microwave in a vending area before returning.
The husband and wife left the room again at about 10:45 p.m. to go to the arcade before returning about 40 minutes later.
On Monday, the Pocono Township Police Department got a call from a woman — later identified as Metallica Harrison — saying that “she needed help dying and she was unable to find the vein in her neck to stab,” according to the affidavit of probable cause. “I”m too weak to stab my neck,” she added.
Police asked the defendant if she had any weapons, to which she allegedly responded that she had knives and “that’s what I’ve been using and it’s not working.” When asked if she was alone, Metallica Harrison reportedly replied, “my husband and son are already gone in the bed” and “They’re already gone, I’m sorry.”
Authorities noted that the woman did not request any help for her family members.
Officers responded to the resort, saw the woman in the doorway and found “bleeding cuts on her left wrist and superficial punctures about the neck.”
The defendant reportedly said “she wanted to be with her husband and son.” That was when officers saw the victims.
Inside the room, Charles Harrison lay dead on a mattress on the floor, and T.H. was dead on a separate mattress on the floor. Charles Harrison had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, while the child suffered a single stab wound to the same area.
A “large butcher kitchen knife” was on the bathroom floor, and a smaller knife was in the bathroom sink, according to police. The resort said neither of the knives was property of the lodge.
Blood appeared to be in the room, along with multiple bottles of medication.
Metallica Harrison was taken to an area hospital, and she apparently kept talking during the ride.
“I f—ed up, I f—ed up. I just needed energy and strength,” she said, per authorities. The defendant allegedly expressed frustration that there wasn’t an “easier way” and asked medics how deep her wrist vein is so she would know for “next time.”
Metallica Harrison said she had taken medication to help thin her blood and that the blood was clotting when it wasn’t supposed to, the court document goes on. She added: “[E]veryday, I work so hard. To be the best person, the best mother, the best wife. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. I was supposed to have my happy family. That’s what I envisioned since I was a child.”
According to the affidavit, when investigators went to speak with the defendant after she’d been admitted to the hospital and inquired about what brought her there, she responded that she is “suicidal, not stupid” and wasn’t willing to talk more.
Metallica Harrison was jailed on Tuesday and had her preliminary arraignment. She is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 21.
