Wells County Sheriff Finds 3-Year-Old At Shooting Scene

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Police in central North Dakota are still investigating a murder-suicide that happened near Fessenden on Tuesday night.

The small town of Fessenden, heartbroken to hear that Samantha Maxwell was shot and killed by her 34-year-old ex-boyfriend Brady Wolff before he took his own life. And left behind is their three-year-old daughter Grace who may never be the same after what happened just two days ago.

On Tuesday morning, Samantha filed a restraining order against Brady.

“An incident had happened between the two the week prior,” says Wells County Sheriff Johnny Lawson.

Wells County Sheriff Johnny Lawson tried to coordinate with Brady so he could serve him the paperwork but Brady said he was unavailable to meet.

Later that afternoon, Samantha left Fessenden to meet Brady here, about 20 minutes away from the town, to pick up her daughter, Grace, when Lawson suddenly felt an urge to call her.

“It was almost like a higher power telling me that I needed to contact her. So I called her,” Lawson explains.

Soon after the call, Samantha met Brady. But Lawson was too late.

“When I got there it was very emotional for me even as a law enforcement officer, as a person. It was very, it was, um, I kind of lost my feelings there for a moment,” Lawson says.

But he wasn’t alone. Standing on the side of the road, overlooking her parents’ bodies was three-year-old Grace.

“It was very sad. She was crying, she was sad,” says an emotional Lawson.

Incidents like what happened here don’t happen in this area very often. The sheriff says it’s going to take some time for him and the town of Fessenden to heal.

“The next step is to try to get some closure on this, finish the investigation and start healing,” Lawson says.

Grace is safe and is staying with Samantha’s parents in Fessenden.