Experts: No way to know why father snapped, killed kids Domestic violence questions

There's no one sign that would have indicated that Keith Jermaine Gresham was going to kill his two sons last Monday instead of returning them to their mother after a weekend visit.

Family members described him as a devoted father who always made time to be with his children, and he wrote in court documents of how much he loved his children.

"Keith has always been a good dad," said Betty Watson, Gresham's cousin. "Nobody could separate him from his children."

But domestic violence advocates say abusers are pushed to the brink by an insatiable desire to control their families.

Gresham shot and killed his sons, 4-year-old Keionte Gresham and 7-year-old Keion Gresham, before killing himself a week ago.

"This is not the first instance of a situation where there is violence between parents, and children play the ultimate price in the situation - whether it's to gain control of the family or to do the ultimate harm to the victim," said Joan Prittie, director of Project Safe.

"That is not an unprecedented situation."

Catrina Doster and Gresham, Keion and Keionte's parents, had been separated for more than a year when the boys were killed.

Gresham was obsessed with Doster "bringing his family back," according to applications Doster filed for protective orders against Gresham. He repeatedly threatened that he would not let them leave him, and she filed several domestic violence complaints.

Gresham had been arrested for aggravated stalking in Oglethorpe County in December for contacting Doster in violation of a court order requiring him to stay 500 yards away from her, according to court documents.

He was scheduled to appear in Jackson County Superior Court for a probation revocation hearing on the afternoon he shot his sons.

Doster allowed Gresham to visit with the children that weekend in advance of his probation revocation hearing, according to Chief Deputy David Cochran. She filed a custody interference complaint with the Commerce Police Department when he did not return the boys.

There's no way to know what led Gresham to kill his sons, said Courtney McVay, director of the Tree House children's advocacy cen

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