A Texas mother accused of stabbing her two young children and their father during a horrifying early-morning attack had been battling postpartum depression, her recovering husband said.

Holly Flores, 37, allegedly attacked her husband, Justin Hommel, 34, along with their 3-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son at the family’s Northlake home, north of Dallas, early Tuesday.

Hommel called 911 at about 4:20 a.m. after managing to fight off his wife, who allegedly stabbed him and both children.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox 4, officers found Hommel outside the house holding the kitchen knife believed to have been used in the attack.

Police took Flores into custody and entered the home, where they found the couple’s daughter and infant son lying bloodied on a bed.

As Flores was loaded into an ambulance, she reportedly told officers that she “wanted to kill herself and she no longer wanted to live,” the affidavit said.

The violence followed several disturbing hours. Hommel said he woke earlier after hearing his wife repeatedly attempting to light a lighter.

He told investigators that he had been sleeping on the couch to support Flores, who he said had experienced postpartum depression since the birth of their son 10 months ago.

“He was concerned hearing the lighter, so he entered the bedroom,” officers wrote in their report.

The affidavit said Hommel saw Flores lighting a candle and noticed a kitchen knife on the bedroom dresser. Seeing the weapon “freaked him out,” he told investigators. When he asked Flores what she was doing, the two began arguing, according to the report.

Hommel eventually returned to sleep. A short time later, he woke to the sound of his children crying.

The affidavit said Hommel knocked on the bedroom door, and Flores opened it while holding the kitchen knife. She allegedly then lunged at him with the weapon.

A struggle followed, with Flores allegedly biting Hommel’s arms as he tried to wrestle the knife away from her.

Flores allegedly stabbed Hommel in the forehead before he succeeded in taking the knife from her.

Both children were conscious when officers found them and had knife puncture wounds to the upper chest.

The affidavit also said the young girl had additional wounds to her stomach.

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.

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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.

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. 

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. 

An Iowa man accused of firing at vehicles on an interstate and injuring a woman allegedly told police after his arrest, “I had to kill people today,” according to court documents.

Andrew Darrick Tanaka, 27, of West Des Moines, faces four counts of attempted murder in connection with Monday afternoon’s shootings along Interstate 35 in Warren County, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said.

The alleged statement was included in a criminal complaint and affidavit filed Tuesday in Warren County District Court.

The incident began at about 3:31 p.m. Monday, when authorities received several 911 calls reporting gunfire on the northbound lanes of I-35.

According to the affidavit, Tanaka was driving a black Chevrolet Equinox when a woman in a black BMW passed him. The BMW then passed a Subaru Outback.

Investigators allege Tanaka caught up with the Subaru and fired at least two rounds through the driver’s-side window, striking the woman behind the wheel in her left shoulder.

He allegedly then pursued the BMW and fired another round through its driver’s-side window.

Tanaka continued north before rear-ending a gray Nissan Altima occupied by two people, the affidavit states.

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When the Nissan’s occupants stopped to check on him, Tanaka allegedly exited the Equinox with a handgun and fired at least one shot into the car’s windshield.

Warren County sheriff’s deputies, West Des Moines police officers and Iowa State Patrol troopers responded to reports of gunfire near mile marker 56.

Officers found the wounded woman along with several vehicles that appeared to have been hit by gunfire. She was taken to a hospital with injuries authorities said did not appear to be life-threatening.

Police later located Tanaka along the interstate after his vehicle became disabled following the collision.

He was standing on the highway shoulder with a handgun when officers arrived, according to the affidavit. Tanaka was taken into custody without further incident.

The shootings forced authorities to close the interstate for several hours as investigators processed the scene.

Tanaka was booked into the Warren County Jail on four counts of attempted murder.

The Warren County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are investigating the shootings.

A former Missouri probation and parole officer who later worked at a state correctional facility allegedly killed his wife in front of several of their children and forced some of them to participate in the abuse, according to court records.

Jonathan G. Houston, 44, was arrested after one of his children called 911 from a hotel. The child reportedly whispered that Houston had “captured” her and her six siblings and had physically abused them for years, KOMU reported, citing charging documents.

Deputies went to the Baymont Inn & Suites in Kingdom City on Sunday and found the children there.

One child told deputies that Houston strangled his wife about 10 months earlier while several children were present, according to the charging documents. Another child, who also said she witnessed the strangulation, recalled that Houston had told her he intended to kill his wife, later identified as 37-year-old Aunika C. Houston.

During the alleged attack, Houston was holding his wife by the throat when he ordered one child to pour hot water over her legs and directed another to cover her mouth to silence her screams, the documents state.

Houston allegedly confined his three youngest children in a bathroom and told the children who remained outside to play loud music so their mother’s cries could not be heard, according to court records cited by KOMU.

Afterward, Houston allegedly placed his wife’s body in a trash bag and discarded it in a dumpster on the hotel property.

Authorities said Aunika Houston was never reported missing following her death.

“Aunika Houston was originally from the State of California and is believed to have been residing in the Central Missouri area for the past several years. Her next of kin has been notified,” the Callaway County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

According to the charging documents, Houston allegedly told investigators that he killed his wife and had planned the crime beforehand.

“There is no danger to the community. This seems to be an act of domestic violence and it’s very unfortunate for everybody involved,” Curtis Hall, chief deputy with the Callaway County Sheriff’s Office, told KOMU.

“At this point we’re 48 hours afterwards on a crime that we’re already 10 months behind on,” Hall said. “We have to be mindful of what we can release and what we should release.”

Houston is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and is being held without bond.

Deputies said the children were placed in protective custody.

Authorities are also investigating Houston in connection with an alleged sexual assault and alleged assaults involving other victims, deputies said.

Patricia Krenwinkel, the former girlfriend and devoted follower of Charles Manson, could be released from prison after a California parole panel recommended her freedom.

Now 78, Krenwinkel has spent 56 years behind bars for her role in the brutal 1969 Los Angeles murders of seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Tuesday that she had received a preliminary parole grant.

The agency stressed that the decision is not yet final. “All grants of parole are proposed decisions and become final only after a thorough and comprehensive review by the Board of Parole Hearings and the Governor,” it said.

Once the parole board’s legal review is complete, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom will have 30 days to determine whether to block the recommendation.

Newsom used that power last year to stop Krenwinkel’s release, arguing that she had “not developed sufficient insight into the causative factors of her crime and her triggers for antisocial thinking and conduct [in] the context of maladaptive relationships,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said they intend to again ask the governor’s office to reject the recommendation and keep Krenwinkel at the California Institution for Women.

If Newsom overturns the parole decision, Krenwinkel would be eligible for another hearing within 18 months.

Krenwinkel is now California’s longest-serving female prisoner. She was 19 when she joined the commune, gang and cult built around Manson, an influential figure whose followers would later become associated with a series of notorious killings.

Among the victims was Sharon Tate, the eight-months-pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was murdered on August 8, 1969.

The attackers also killed Tate’s guests: Folger, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring and aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski. Steven Parent, a teenager visiting someone in the estate’s guesthouse, was also found dead.

Krenwinkel has testified that she pursued Folger before stabbing her more than 20 times. She also acknowledged using the victims’ blood to scrawl political phrases, including “Death to Pigs,” across the walls.

The following evening, Manson and several followers, including Krenwinkel, carried out another attack. Wealthy supermarket owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, were killed in their home.

Krenwinkel was initially sentenced to death for the seven murders. Her punishment was later changed to life in prison after the US Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

At one court appearance, Krenwinkel arrived with fellow defendants Leslie Van Houten and Susan Atkins, each displaying an X carved into the forehead—an act associated with Manson.

Debra Tate, Sharon’s sister, has since become an outspoken advocate for keeping Krenwinkel and other former members of Manson’s cult behind bars.

She noted in an online petition in 2016 that Krenwinkel personally carved the word ‘WAR’ into Leno LaBianca’s belly and wrote the disturbing messages on the walls.

‘She has admitted that was not a direct order from Charles Manson or anyone else – it was her own idea,’ Debra wrote.

‘For years, this woman laughed about the murders in court and showed absolutely no remorse at all,’ she continued.

‘Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out.’

But Krenwinkel’s attorneys claim she has participated in extensive therapy and group counseling to confront her experiences as both a perpetrator and survivor of violence, arguing she had been abused by Manson, Los Angeles Magazine reports.

They noted she was just a teenager when she came under Manson’s influence and was searching for belonging.

Manson then ‘exploited that vulnerability through manipulation, drugs and psychological abuse,’ the lawyers from UnCommon Law said in a statement.

‘Over the decades since, Pat has worked to understand how she became capable of causing such profound harm and to take responsibility for the consequences of her actions,’ lawyer Keith Wattley said.

He went on to celebrate the parole board’s decision.

‘At a time when parole decisions are increasingly compromised by politics, this finding offers a glimmer of hope: Proof that the Board can uphold the law, recognize decades of rehabilitation and make decisions grounded in evidence,’ Wattley argued.

‘Now, the governor must respect these decisions and allow Pat to come home.’

Newsom’s choice on whether to allow Krenwinkel to go free now comes just three years after his previous decision to deny Van Houten parole was overruled by an appellate court.  

‘More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,’ he lamented in a statement at the time.

Other former Manson Family members Charles Denton ‘Tex’ Watson and Bobby Beausoleil remain behind bars.

Manson, Atkins and Bruce Davis, meanwhile, have died in custody.

A softball game turned into an extraordinary family reunion.

A Montana high school softball player discovered her long-lost sister after facing her on the opposing team—when a teammate noticed the striking resemblance between the two athletes.

Samantha Rensvold, 19, was competing in a tournament in Belgrade, Montana, last August when one of her teammates spotted Kyann Dean, 18, playing for the other team.

Rensvold, who was adopted, had always known she had a younger biological sister. But because the adoption was closed, she had no idea where her sister lived or what she looked like.

“I hadn’t seen her close up yet when my teammate was pointing her out to me,” Rensvold told People on Sept. 30.

“I was like, ‘There’s no way that this would happen to me right now,’” she recalled.

Rensvold did not speak to Dean immediately after the game because she was unsure whether they were actually related. After telling her mother about the resemblance, however, they checked the tournament roster and found Dean’s name.

“My mom knew that that’s what my birth mom named her,” Rensvold said. “So my mom was like, ‘That has to be your sister. That’s not a coincidence.’”

Rensvold’s mother then approached Dean’s family at the tournament. The families compared the name of the girls’ biological mother and the hospital where they were born—and both details matched.

When the sisters finally met on the softball field, they shook hands in disbelief before breaking into laughter.

“There’s a girl on my all-state team who looks just like you,” Rensvold’s teammate said in a clip obtained by Inside Edition on Tuesday.

“We were just freaking out. We were in tears. It was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Rensvold’s mother told the outlet. Inside Edition compared the surprise reunion to the 1998 film “The Parent Trap,” starring Lindsay Lohan.

In the movie, Lohan portrays twin sisters who meet unexpectedly at an all-girls summer camp and realize they look remarkably alike.

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Rensvold and Dean were thrilled to find each other, though Rensvold said the reality of the moment took time to sink in.

“It’s like we didn’t know what to feel because you’ve waited your whole lives for this moment,” Rensvold told People.

The sisters have not taken a DNA test. Both were adopted as babies by separate families in Great Falls, Montana.

Rensvold was raised in Polson, in the state’s northwest, while Dean grew up about 400 miles away in Worden.

Rensvold said their biological parents were 19 and 17 years old when she was born.

“I’ve always just assumed that they were too young and they wanted to give me a better life that maybe they couldn’t give me,” she said. “What I don’t know is why they had two more [children] and then gave them both up for adoption.”

Under Montana law, adoption proceedings are confidential and automatically sealed. According to the Adoptee Rights Law Center, those records can be unsealed or released only through a specific court order.

Rensvold and Dean have since discovered several similarities beyond their appearance. Both played volleyball in high school, both wore No. 6 and both played the same position.

They also have the same “little giggle,” Rensvold said.

Rensvold now attends Spokane College in Washington state, where she appeared in 26 softball games and started 13, recording 11 wins and five losses during her freshman year.

Dean attends college in North Dakota and recently visited Rensvold and her family at Spokane.

“When I would talk to people about my situation with my biological family, I’d always have to explain ‘I have a sister,’” Rensvold said.

“But now it’s so nice to be able to put a face to her and to meet her, hang out with her. It doesn’t leave any doubt or wonder in my mind,” she added.

NEW YORK — Nearly 30 years after the Good Friday Agreement reshaped Northern Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the United States could again have a role in a future campaign for a united Ireland after President Donald Trump voiced support for reunification.

Martin, whose Fianna Fáil party backs Irish unity, said the 1998 accord established a peaceful process for determining Northern Ireland’s constitutional future and largely ended the three decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles. But he warned that the longstanding divide between nationalist and unionist communities must be addressed first.

“I believe in unity and my party believes in unity, but we have to work on it,” Martin told News Media in an exclusive interview. “We have to build reconciliation among the different traditions on the island of Ireland.”

“The U.S. was critical to the success of peace and conflict resolution in Ireland,” Martin said.

Martin spoke with News Media on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, describing the world as being at a global “crossroad” amid the war in Ukraine, conflicts across the Middle East and negotiations involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Throughout the interview, he repeatedly pointed to Ireland’s own journey from conflict to peace as a model for addressing crises overseas. He also defended Ireland’s longstanding military neutrality, even as the country has increased its support for Ukraine.

The question of Irish unity drew fresh attention during Trump’s visit to Ireland last month. The president said he would “love” to see the island unified and predicted that reunification would eventually take place.

Asked whether Washington could once again contribute if Ireland moves toward reunification, Martin replied: “To a degree maybe, potentially, yeah.”

Martin spoke before the latest confrontation over Garvaghy Road in Portadown, which revived one of Northern Ireland’s most divisive disputes over parades and highlighted the continuing strength of nationalist-unionist tensions.

Last month, the Parades Commission authorized a limited Orange Order march along the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in 28 years. Residents and supporters blocked the route, while police declined to force the parade through because of fears that doing so could trigger serious disorder.

The Orange Order is a Protestant organization whose members generally support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. Many residents of the predominantly Catholic, nationalist Garvaghy Road area favor a united Ireland.

The standoff has moved into the courts and Stormont, Northern Ireland’s seat of government, as negotiators continue seeking a compromise.

The Good Friday Agreement allows a referendum to be called if it appears that a majority in Northern Ireland would support reunification. Martin said, however, that more work is needed to determine what a united Ireland would look like and to expand engagement with communities on both sides of the border.

Martin said the lessons of Northern Ireland’s peace process reach well beyond the island.

“Because of our conflict in Northern Ireland, we feel we can make a contribution to that conflict resolution pathway,” Martin said.

He said Ireland’s experience in ending decades of violence now informs its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and Europe’s increasingly uncertain security landscape.

“We don’t get a sense that Russia is really interested at this particular stage,” Martin said of efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Martin, who met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the previous evening, nonetheless said it was important to keep communication channels open between Washington and Moscow.

Asked whether a realistic peace settlement would ultimately require Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia, Martin rejected the premise.

“Ukraine can’t cede territory that Russia hasn’t even conquered, despite four years of war,” Martin said.

But he said a ceasefire along existing battle lines could provide a starting point for negotiations.

“If we even could get a ceasefire on existing lines, and then negotiations to start,” Martin said, adding that Kyiv would need protections against renewed Russian aggression. “Ukraine needs security guarantees.”

Martin also pointed to Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership as potentially providing an additional layer of security and said the broader security architecture between Europe and Russia would ultimately have to be addressed in negotiations.

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“From our perspective, no one has the right to go into another country and take its territory,” Martin said.

Ireland’s extensive support for Kyiv, however, raises a more contentious question at home: how far can a militarily neutral country support one side in a war while maintaining that neutrality?

Ireland has committed more than $754 million in humanitarian assistance, military training and other non-lethal support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 while stopping short of providing lethal weapons.

News Media asked Martin whether that level of support undermined Ireland’s neutrality.

“No, because we don’t give lethal aid, we haven’t given military weaponry, but we have given non-lethal assistance in terms of training and so on like that, and also humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” Martin said.

Ireland has also taken in large numbers of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Martin said more than 120,000 had arrived at one point, with roughly 80,000 remaining in the country at the time of the interview.

“That’s not taking sides, that’s taking a humanitarian response to a war,” Martin said. “And many are contributing, many are working in the economy.”

Ireland’s neutrality has also faced scrutiny over the long-standing use of Shannon Airport by the U.S. military.

NATO’s top military commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, described Shannon in August as a “very important logistics hub” for the United States and said withdrawing American military access would probably damage U.S.-Irish relations.

The airport’s role has long drawn protests from Irish neutrality campaigners, who argue that allowing U.S. military personnel and aircraft to transit through a civilian airport undermines the country’s neutral status.

Despite differing approaches to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Martin described the U.S.-Ireland relationship in almost familial terms.

“There’s a very strong bond between Ireland and the United States,” Martin said.

He pointed to the long-standing tradition of Irish leaders visiting the White House on St. Patrick’s Day and the enormous Irish American diaspora, which he estimated at roughly 30 million people.

“It’s just family, there’s kinship ties,” Martin said.

Martin said Ireland’s peace-process experience also informs its approach to the Middle East, where Dublin has emerged as one of Israel’s strongest European critics.

He condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack and defended Israel’s right to security while arguing that the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza had been “absolutely disproportionate.”

“We believe in a two-state solution,” Martin said. “We believe that Israel, of course, has a right to exist in security and its people need to be guaranteed of security. But likewise, Palestinians should have a right to live in their homeland in a peaceful way.”

Martin said Ireland’s strongly anti-Israel position was shaped partly by its own history and what he described as a “sense of right and justice and fairness.”

Ireland currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, placing Martin at the center of negotiations as Europe confronts its biggest security challenges in decades.

“There’s a big realization in Europe that we have to do more to provide greater security to Europe, particularly because of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Martin said.

He pointed particularly to Baltic and Nordic countries, whose governments have increased defense spending amid fears about Russia.

“Many have an existential fear of Russia,” Martin said.

Martin said Europe was also tightening its approach to immigration, echoing comments he made elsewhere in the interview that asylum applications had fallen across Ireland and that governments across the continent were responding to mounting political pressure.

For Martin, those challenges — from Ukraine and the Middle East to Ireland’s own unfinished constitutional future —ultimately return to the lessons he believes his country learned through decades of conflict and the peace process that followed.

“The world needs to try and turn a page toward a more peaceful sort of coexistence,” Martin said.