WEST JORDAN — Friends of Justin and Melissa Matern said they knew the couple was having problems, but they never imagined something like this would ever happen.
"I still can't wrap my mind around it," friend and former neighbor Marques Howser said. "It kills me. I don't know how I will be able to tell my daughter and son how this happened."
"He said, 'I thought this was going to be the best year of my life, and it's been the worst,' " Justin Matern recently told his former neighbor Vicki Hansen. " 'I don't even want to live anymore.' I told him, 'You can't go there. It's not worth it.' I can't believe he would ever do that to the kids."
Thursday night, police say Justin Zachariah Matern, 34, went to his estranged wife's apartment, where he shot and killed Melissa Ann Matern, 31, and their two sons, 6-year-old Gabriel, and 4-year-old Raiden. He then committed suicide.
Before turning his gun on himself, Matern sent text messages to friends and family about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, saying he had just killed his family and was about to kill himself, West Jordan Police Sgt. Drew Sanders said.
Investigators believe the triple-murder/suicide was likely premeditated, because a suicide note was later found at Justin Matern's work, apparently intended for co-workers to find Friday morning.
People who received the texts immediately called police but were unsure where the husband was when he sent the messages. Police said Melissa Matern had only lived in her apartment in the Willow Cove apartment complex near 9300 S. Redwood Road for a few weeks.
Police in Midvale, Salt Lake City, West Jordan and South Jordan searched their areas for the family after receiving the reports.
Vicki Hansen lives next door to the Materns' former Salt Lake house near 1800 S. Main. She heard someone kicking in the door last night and looked out the window to see an officer with his gun drawn.
West Jordan police eventually found the woman's apartment and the grisly scene about 9:30 p.m. There was no sign of forced entry. If not for the text messages, Sanders said, the tragedy might have remained undiscovered Friday.
Sanders did not know how long the couple had been separated, saying only that it had been "recently." Justin Matern was "distraught" over the separation and had expressed suicidal thoughts to others, Sanders said.
Friends said the Materns had common marital problems, but the combination of her leaving and financial problems may have caused Justin to "snap." At times he would tell friends, "She's gonna come back," they said.
"Beyond the yelling and fighting, he didn't seem like this was his thing," Vicki Hansen said. "He loved the boys. (The Materns) were good people."
Court records show collection agencies and the Utah State Tax Commission had filed civil claims against the Materns in the past. Neither had a criminal record and police had no record of domestic violence involving the couple.
Despite his tattooed exterior, Howser said Justin Matern was a sensitive guy on the inside. The two often went fishing together and his children played together constantly. Gabe Matern even said he was going to marry Howser's 7-year-old daughter Cheyenne.
Neighbors described Gabe as a smart boy who seemed older than he was and loved eating tomatoes.
"He was so cute. He was hilarious," said Jack Hansen.
"He had such a sadness for other people. He was older than what he was," Vicki Hansen, Jack's mother, added.
Last year, Gabriel was hit by a car in front of his house while riding his bike and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Justin Matern worked at a tattoo parlor near 1800 S. State, up the street from his house, according to neighbors. An employee at the business declined comment Friday.
Neighbors say Justin Matern had a concealed weapons permit and owned several guns. They also said he had an older daughter from a previous relationship who now lives in Ogden.
Several neighbors at the West Jordan apartment complex where Melissa Matern was living said they didn't really know Melissa Matern because she had not lived there long. But they were sorry to hear what had happened.
"I just think it's really sad," said neighbor Suzannah Nielson.
She said she often had seen the boys playing on their third-floor balcony with their mother.
e-mail: preavy@desnews.com