SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Newly released police documents illustrate a pattern of concerning behavior involving Parth Gandhi, the man police say killed his son and then himself over Mother’s Day weekend. 

ABC4 obtained 26 police reports filed by Salt Lake City Police officers involving Gandhi over the years. Many of the reports involve custody disputes filed by either Gandhi or his ex-wife.

In many of those instances, reports indicate officers told the couple they needed to sort it out with the courts. However, there are several reports in which Gandhi’s ex-wife reported she was afraid of Gandhi and what he might do to her or her children. 

On June 15th, 2009, Gandhi’s ex-wife contacted police about a concerning situation where Gandhi wouldn’t let her leave the home, according to police documents. On July 17th, 2009, she contacted police again, this time reporting he violated her protection order.

This police report provided a list of documented violations in which he used friends and family members to send messages to her. Reports also suggest he cyberbullied her using the email address “whereveryouare@gmail.com.”

Two years later, she went to a victim resource center. In 2011, she contacted police six times. Over the years, she reported threats and harassment as well as abuse allegations against Gandhi. 

According to police records, the Division of Child and Family Services contacted police in October 2012 about a child possibly being abused by Gandhi. The report indicates the child reported the abuse to the mother and aunt but did not disclose any abuse to the therapist. No charges were ever filed in this case as police cited insufficient evidence. 

Before losing her son, the boy’s mother had been advocating for a law called Kayden’s Law. Currently, Kayden’s Law is a federal law that provides funding to states that choose to implement certain custody law standards. 

According to Danielle Pollack with the National Family Violence Law Center, those standards include requiring specific training for court officials on domestic violence, restricting courts from ordering reunification treatments and requiring courts to look at evidence of abuse in custody cases. 

The law is relatively new and only one state has adopted it thus far — Colorado. It’s a law Pollack said could save so many children. 

“In every state, I can tell you children who were court-ordered to an abusive parent, and then killed by that parent,” said Pollack. 

Salt Lake City Police also received two concerning reports from other women involving Gandhi’s behavior. In one of those reports, a woman told police that Gandhi had given her drugs and raped her. That report was filed just a few months before police say Gandhi killed his son and then himself.