The Wyoming mother who killed her four young daughters in a tragic murder-suicide was no monster but a ‘fierce mama bear protector’ who had been struggling with her mental health following a bitter custody battle, her closest friend has told DailyMail.com.
Nicole Jensen said Tranyelle Harshman had suffered so much that she believes her horrific final act was her way of protecting her children.
‘I will defend her and her memory until the end of my days,’ Jensen said.
‘I know that she felt she couldn’t live anymore but also couldn’t abandon her children without her to fight for and care for them.’
Harshman, 32, fatally shot her daughters, Brooke and Jordan, both two, Olivia, seven, and nine-year-old Brailey, inside their family home in Byron, Wyoming, before turning the gun on herself on February 10.
The mom had called the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office around 1:30pm that day to report the shooting, but did not admit to firing the weapon.
Officers arrived to find the two youngest girls, Brooke and Jordan, dead in their cribs and Brailey suffering a gunshot wound in a downstairs bedroom.
The three girls were pronounced dead at the scene, while seven-year-old Olivia succumbed to her injuries five days later after being airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Tranyelle Harshman, 32, of Byron, Wyoming was struggling with mental health issues before she shot her four daughters dead and took her own life on February 10
The troubled mom-of-four opened fire on daughters, Brooke and Jordan, both two, Olivia, seven, and nine-year-old Brailey, inside their family home in Byron
Tranyelle, who grew up the third of 13 children, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and died in the hospital two days later.
Speaking to DailyMail.com in the wake of the tragedy, Jensen, 35, defended the troubled young mom and said she believes her horrific final act was her way of protecting her children.
‘She spent the past nine years fighting every day for her daughters,’ Jensen exclusively told DailyMail.com.
‘As a mother, you are rarely given the support you need, anytime you ask for help you are told that you chose to be a mother and to suck it up.
‘She fought to not only keep them safe, but to ensure the world didn’t beat them down and steal their fire.’
The two became close after meeting at a Mormon church in Oregon, when Tranyelle was married to her first husband, Quinn Blackmer, the father of Olivia and Brailey.
They remained in contact after Tranyelle left the state, moving first to Arizona, then Montana, and finally Wyoming, opening up to each other about their mental health struggles.
Nicole said: ‘She struggled but she was also the first person to jump in and help when she saw someone in need.
Olivia Blackmer, 7, was found alive but critically wounded but sadly succumbed to her injuries at a hoospital in Salt Lake City five days later on February 15
Quinn Blackmer was the father of Tranyelle’s two older chiildren, nine-year-old Brailey and seven-year-old Olivia. He and Tranyelle had been involved in a bitter custody battle
‘In a weird way, I understand why she felt like she had to do what she did. She spent her whole motherhood journey fighting for and protecting her childhood so fiercely that the term Mama Bear doesn’t even cover it.
‘It’s something that, unless you’ve been a mother, you can’t even begin to understand. She was trying to protect them to the end.’
Tranyelle was also suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common female reproductive disorder.
A 2024 study of nearly 20,000 women found that women with PCOS are eight times more likely to take their own life than those without it.
The condition afflicts around one in 10 American women of childbearing age – and affects how well the ovaries work, impacting fertility.
She was diagnosed shortly before getting pregnant with the first of her two younger daughters, who were born within 11 months of each other.
Nicole claims that her friend was under added pressure after her divorce, and became embroiled in a bitter battle with her ex-husband over custody for the two older daughters.
‘That was part of the struggle,’ she added. ‘PCOS messed with her hormones and then you add postpartum depression and anxiety on top of two very quick pregnancies, a nasty court battle for custody of her oldest two, while she was pregnant with her youngest.
‘That caused extreme stress. It was too much for anyone to handle, but she tried her best.
‘Having two babies in a year was extremely hard on her body and mind. She adored those girls and wouldn’t have had it any other way, but it took its toll on her.’
Brailey and Olivia are pictured as angels in a heartbreaking Facebook photo Quinn shared
A makeshift memorial with flowers and candles has grown up outside the home in Byron, Wyoming, where Tranyelle Harshman shot her four children before turning the gun on herself
Nicole said her friend ‘struggled immensely’ with her reproductive health concerns, especially during her last two pregnancies.
‘Her first two were in Oregon where we have excellent options and doctors who do their best to offer every option under the sun.
‘Those resources are extremely limited and very far away in Wyoming.
‘She opened up about her mental health struggles, but obviously not enough. I had no idea it ran that deep that she was contemplating taking her own life.’
Tranyelle and Quinn jointly filed for divorce in May 2020, after separating that January after six years of marriage, according to documents seen by DailyMail.com
Initially the courts agreed that the pair would split joint custody, but Quinn started fighting to have the girl’s full time.
Court documents show communication between the pair had broken down in 2021, with Quinn, 36, accusing his ex-wife of refusing to modify the custody arrangement and trying to ‘purposely alienate’ him from his daughters.
A document dated November last year stated that Blackmer would pay $890 in child support each month, and the couple attended mediation in a bid to solve their issues.
The agreement stated that Tranyelle would have primary custody of the girls, and Quinn would have them each summer, spring break, Christmas break and some weekends. He could visit them in Wyoming with notice to his ex-wife.
Harshman’s husband, Cliff, the biological father of the two younger girls, defended his wife as he urged the public not to rush to judgment
The tiny town of Byron, Wyoming, which has a population of just 562, is reeling from the tragedy
Quinn told the Cowboy State Daily that he had ‘worried something bad would happen in the future’, adding ‘But I had no idea – I could never imagine this.’
Nicole was set to be a witness in their ongoing custody issues, explaining the fight was ‘never a case of parents not loving their children’, while accepting that co-parenting was ‘strained’.
She went on to praise Tranyelle’s second husband, Cliff Harshman, 30, as a wonderful man who loved his stepdaughters ‘as his own’.
But his work kept him away from home so much that Nicole referred to her friend as a ‘single parent’ to the four young girls, who struggled with ‘outside forces and her own mental health’.
‘The custody case was a large financial and mental burden,’ Nicole said. ‘It added further complications medically to her last pregnancy along with having an infant.
‘Cliff did his best to love and support her, but the constant time apart due to his work was very hard on them both.’
Cliff told local media that his wife was ‘not a monster’, and confirmed that she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, post-partum depression and standard depression.
‘This is so out of character. It’s unbelievable what had happened,’ he said. ‘We’d been getting her help, and along the way something didn’t work.
‘As angry as I may be with her, I still love her – and I still lost her as well.’
Cliff questioned whether it was her fierce motherly love that factored into her sudden and suicidal snap, as if ‘she wasn’t going to leave the kids alone’.
The children attended public school normally and were home suffering from the flu at the time of the incident.
Paying tribute to her friend, Nicole said: ‘I really just don’t want this one horrible day to be how she is forever remembered. She made me a stronger woman and a better mom.
‘I’m still in disbelief that she’s gone and I’ll never be able to talk to her again. This world is less bright without her.
- If you or anyone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call the Suicide Prevention hotline on 988 – or 1-800-273-8255
