Mom of two allegedly stabbed husband in the head and turned knife on young children in postpartum snap…in case with chilling Lindsay Clancy echoes
The Texas mother who allegedly stabbed her two young children and their father in a horrifying early-morning rampage was struggling with postpartum depression, according to her recovering husband.
Holly Flores, 37, is accused of attacking her husband Justin Hommel, 34, and their 3-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son inside the family’s home in Northlake, north of Dallas, early Tuesday morning.
Hommel called 911 around 4.20 a.m. after fighting off his wife, who had allegedly stabbed him and both children.
When officers arrived, they found Hommel outside the home holding the kitchen knife allegedly used in the attack, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox 4.
Police detained Flores and rushed into the home, discovering the couple’s daughter and baby boy lying on a bed, covered in blood.
As Flores was placed in an ambulance, she told officers she ‘wanted to kill herself and she no longer wanted to live,’ according to the affidavit.
But the nightmare had begun hours before the bloody attack, when Hommel awoke to the sound of his wife repeatedly trying to ignite a lighter.
Hommel told investigators he had been sleeping on the couch to help his wife, who he said had been struggling with postpartum depression since giving birth to their son 10 months earlier.
Flores had been suffering from postpartum depression since the birth of her son 10 months ago, according to her husband
The Hommels were a ‘picture perfect’ family, one neighbor told the Daily Mail (source: Holly Hommel/Facebook)
Holly Leeann Flores, 37, is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder for stabbing her two children and one count of aggravated assault for stabbing her husband, according to the Northlake Police Department
‘He was concerned hearing the lighter, so he entered the bedroom,’ officers stated in their report.
‘[He] observed [Flores] to be lighting a candle, and he also observed a kitchen knife on the bedroom dresser. [He] advised seeing the knife ‘freaked him out’ and he was concerned. [The husband] asked [Flores] was she was doing and [he] stated they began to have a verbal confrontation,’ the affidavit stated.
Hommel allegedly went back to sleep, but woke up a short while later, when he heard his children crying.
‘[Hommel] stated he knocked on the bedroom door and [Flores] opened the door. [He] said when [Flores] opened the door, she had the kitchen knife in her hand and attacked [him] with the knife,’ the affidavit stated.
A struggle ensued, as Flores allegedly bit her husband’s arms as he tried to get the knife from her.
Flores allegedly stabbed Hommel in the forehead before he was able to take the weapon from her.
Both children were found conscious with puncture wounds from a knife in their upper chest area.
The little girl also had wounds on her stomach, according to the affidavit.
Holly and Justin moved to the quaint Dallas, Texas suburb in 2020, according to a neighbor (source: Holly Hommel/Facebook)
The children are expected to survive their wounds as they recover at a hospital in Fort Worth surrounded by family, according to police.
When police tried to take Flores into custody, the report noted she kept escaping from the handcuffs and looking for the keys to set herself free.
Once she was in the ambulance, Flores said ‘she wanted to kill herself and she no longer wanted to live,’ according to the affidavit.
However, her tone quickly changed with officers asked if she knew why they were at her house.
‘I would like to speak to my lawyer,’ she told them.
In the quiet Dallas suburb, neighbors were stunned to learn that the seemingly ‘picture perfect’ family had been struggling behind closed doors, although one witness recalled seeing the couple embroiled in a heated argument just a day before the attack.
‘Yesterday I saw them arguing. I was out here working, I don’t know what the fight was about but I could see her pointing and waving her arms. She looked upset,’ the witness told the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
Police were called to the Hommel residence at 4.30am on Tuesday after the husband called 911
One neighbor described the Flores and her husband and kids as the ‘perfect family’
The construction worker, who was working next door, said Justin stood silently holding the couple’s baby as his wife yelled at him.
‘I didn’t think much of it; all couples fight. Plus she was so small compared to him,’ he said.
Police later revealed they had been called to the Hommel residence five times since March over wellness concerns.
But other neighbors said they had seen little indication of trouble within the family.
‘They just look like the picture perfect family. The kids are so beautiful,’ one neighbor told the Daily Mail.
Another described the couple as friendly and polite, saying they always waved and had shown no outward signs of trouble since moving into the neighborhood in 2020.
The family’s seemingly idyllic life was also on display across their social media accounts.
Flores, who goes by Holly Hommel on Facebook, frequently shared photos of her husband and children.
On August 17, Holly Flores shared a family photo of the four of them standing in front of a beach pier.
Holding her three-year-old daughter, Holly is pictured smiling and standing in front of Justin, who is cradling their infant son.
The day before, she posted another picture of her two children, showing her daughter kissing her son’s forehead.
Holly also appears to run a balloon decorating business. She has shared numerous photos of client’s Halloween parties, grand openings and birthday celebrations.
Justin appears to work as a health insurance expert.
‘Think of me as the Health Insurance Guru…’ Hommel wrote on his professional Facebook page, topped with a photo of him with Holly and their daughter.
Lindsay Clancy seen in court, mother accused of murdering her three young children while suffering from severe mental illness following childbirth
The terrifying incident at the Hommel residence comes months after the contentious trial for Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three young children while suffering from severe mental illness following childbirth.
Clancy, 36, strangled her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, inside their Duxbury home in January 2023 before attempting to take her own life.
Her trial sparked a national debate around how postpartum depression and psychosis are diagnosed and treated, and whether mothers who commit horrific acts while suffering from the symptoms should be held criminally responsible.
Her defense argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors maintained she was criminally responsible for the killings.
Her high-profile murder trial ended in a dramatic mistrial on September 4 after jurors deadlocked 11-1, with the majority reportedly favoring an acquittal on grounds of insanity.
