Police: UConn grad killed son in murder- suicide amid vaccine dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — A University of Connecticut graduate is believed to have killed his 9- year- old son before taking his own life amid a custody dispute over the child getting vaccinated.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office identified the father as Stephen O’Loughlin, 49, and the son as Pierce O’Loughlin, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

San Francisco police discovered their bodies Jan. 13 when they were conducting a welfare check because the child did not show up at school that day.

Stephen O’Loughlin graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1994, according to a post from the UConn School of Business office of alumni relations. The post said he was employed by LoCorr Funds.

Aspokesman for the company said O’Loughlin had been employed there since October 2018.

Online property records show O’Loughlin lived in Ridgefield during the 1990s.

O’Loughlin and the boy’s mother, Leslie Hu, were involved in a custody battle fueled in part by the father’s opposition to vaccinating their son.

Stephen O’Loughlin had agreed to begin vaccinations on Jan. 12, the day before the deaths. A trial on the matter had been scheduled for last week, but court records state the proceedings were delayed until March.

Lorie Nachlis, an attorney for Hu, said O’Loughlin “suffered from untreated mental illness.”

“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?” she said in a statement. “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.”

Hu filed for sole legal custody of the boy in July, nearly four years after the couple divorced in November 2016. The parents had shared both physical and legal custody over Pierce’s medical decisions since the divorce, meaning they both had to approve “vaccinations of any kind,” court records show.

In a news release, San Francisco Police said they responded to an apartment on the 3800 block of Scott Street for a welfare check around 6 p. m. on Jan. 13.

Police entered the apartment where they discovered two people dead, the release said.

“This incident is being investigated as a murder- suicide involving family members,” police said.