Family Found Dead One Day After Mom Sought Help for Veteran Husband

A San Diego family was found shot to death inside their home just one day after the mother’s parents say she sought mental health help for her Navy veteran husband.

Amy Voight, 54, her husband David Voight, 56, and their 13-year-old daughter were found dead Wednesday morning inside their home on Boulder Lake Avenue in San Diego’s Lake Murray area.

Police were called to the house around 8:18 a.m. after a woman reported finding the husband and wife unresponsive and said she was worried about the couple’s teenage daughter.

Officers arrived within minutes and pronounced Amy and David dead at the scene. Their daughter was then found dead elsewhere inside the home.

San Diego Police said all three appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds and that investigators recovered a gun from the house. The department’s Homicide Unit is handling the case.

As of the latest official update, police have not publicly said who fired the shots or formally classified the case as a murder-suicide.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to determine the cause and manner of death for each family member through autopsies.

But Amy’s parents, Mary and Jerry Austin, say there had been troubling warning signs in the days before the deaths.

They told local media that David, a highly decorated Navy warrant officer who served for roughly 30 years, had been struggling with what they described as worsening post-traumatic stress symptoms.

The family said David had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and worked in explosive ordnance disposal, including assignments alongside Navy SEALs.

Mary Austin said David appeared visibly unsettled shortly before the family was found dead.

“You could visibly see there was something really wrong,” she told FOX 5, according to reports.

The Austins said they urged Amy to seek help for him.

According to the family, Amy went to a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic on Sept. 15 — her birthday — and asked whether anything could be done to help David with anxiety, depression and frustration.

Jerry Austin said Amy was told that counselors were busy and that an appointment would be needed.

The VA disputes that account.

“What’s being alleged regarding VA services is not accurate,” VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven said in a statement reported by local media.

The agency said it could not discuss David’s specific medical care because of privacy rules, but stated that VA health facilities offer same-day mental health services to veterans who request help.

The VA’s own website says veterans can call or walk into a VA medical center for mental health support and that same-day services may include an in-person visit, telehealth appointment, nurse triage, prescriptions or scheduling follow-up care.

The VA San Diego system also states that its facilities provide treatment for PTSD, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions and offer same-day assistance.

What happened during Amy’s reported visit, however, has not been independently established because federal privacy laws prevent the VA from publicly discussing David’s care.

Amy’s parents described their daughter as exceptionally bright and devoted to her family.

She reportedly worked as a digital forensic examiner for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

David was remembered by his father-in-law as a longtime Navy veteran who had spent decades serving his country.

The family’s daughter was an eighth grader, according to local reports.

The case has also drawn attention to the issue of PTSD among veterans, but there is currently no official finding that PTSD caused the deaths, and mental health experts caution against assuming that people with PTSD are violent.

Police have said the case appears isolated and that they are not searching for an outside suspect, but investigators have not publicly released a final reconstruction of what happened inside the home.

For Amy’s parents, the uncertainty has only added to the devastation.

“It’s terrible, and our pain is just starting,” Jerry Austin said.

The San Diego Police Department is asking anyone with information about the case to contact its Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.