Business executive kills himself and 9-year-old son after expressing ‘cult-like’ anti-vaxxer beliefs: report
A San Francisco business exec described as having untreated mental illness and “cult-like” anti-vaxxer beliefs allegedly killed his 9-year-old son and himself last week amid a bitter custody dispute.
Stephen O’Loughlin, 49, and his son, Pierce, were found dead from gunshot wounds inside an apartment in the city’s Marina District around 6 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
The boy’s mother, Lesley Hu, asked police to perform a welfare check after learning Pierce never made it to school that day at Convent & Stuart Hall, sources told the San Francisco Chronicle.
O’Loughlin – whose LinkedIn profile said he worked as a vice president at LoCorr Funds – refused to allow the child to receive vaccinations from a young age, Hu claimed in court filings obtained by The Chronicle.
“(His) stance on vaccinations has taken on a cult-like tone,” Hu wrote in paperwork dated Sept. 14, the newspaper reported.
Hu said her ex became so obsessed with the child’s health he would videotape his son’s breathing “to document a stuffy nose,” she told the court.
“I think it is undeniable that Pierce’s father suffered from untreated mental illness, which resulted in his taking the life of his son and his own life,” Hu’s lawyer Lorie Nachlis said in a statement.
“I believe that he did this horrid act in order to exercise the ultimate control over Lesley,” Nachlis said.
“Yes, the parents disagreed about vaccinations, but they disagreed about other issues affecting the child’s well-being. In fact, they disagreed about whether Pierce was a healthy child or a sick child. Was his stuffy nose a product of allergies or something bigger? Pierce wasn’t killed because of a disagreement over a stuffy nose and he wasn’t killed because of a disagreement regarding vaccinations. He was killed for much more complex reasons,” Nachlis said.
A police investigation remained ongoing Monday. Attempts to reach a police spokesperson were not immediately successful.
