The father of Sara McMeen -- the Illinois woman who killed her boyfriend and three young children last week, before turning the gun on herself -- fatally shot his wife more than 40 years ago, RadarOnline.com has learned.

In January of 1971, Louis McMeen Sr. fatally shot wife Pamela in front of their 2-year-old son, Louis A. McMeen Jr., the Pontiac Daily Leader reported, adding both were just 20-years-old when the incident occurred. The paper reported he then went to the Streator Police Station and confessed to the crime, telling officials, "I just murdered my wife."

Louis was initially declared incompetent and did not go to trial, but he was sent to the Department of Mental Health, where a judge in 1973 ruled he was “to be retained in such custody so long as he continues to suffer from said condition.”

As the small farming town of Emington, Illinois, mourns the deaths of a whole family after Friday's shocking murder-suicide, the grandmother of two of the victims says there were no warning signs leading up to the tragedy, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.

"We didn’t see any signs that this was coming, this was a total shock to us," Kathy Lemke told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview. "It was not something we would anticipate happening."

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Sara McMeen shot and killed her three children, Skylar, 8, Ian, 7, and Maggie, 10 months old, and her boyfriend, Daniel Warren, 29, and then turned the gun on herself.

Rocked by the horrific tragedy, a family member of murder-suicide instigator Sara McMeen's exclusively revealed to RadarOnline.com how they have found strength in loved ones, and in their faith, in the days since the shootings.

"We are doing OK, we are finding comfort in the Lord and in the huge outpouring of love and support from family and friends,” the relative exclusively told RadarOnline.com.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the 30-year-old mother from the small farming town of Emington, Illinois, shot her three children, Skylar, 8, Ian, 7, and Maggie, 10 months old, and her boyfriend, Daniel Warren, 29, and then turned the gun on herself.

Daniel Warren’s mother has spoken exclusively to RadarOnline.com about the heartbreak of losing her only child and grandchild at the crazed hands of his girlfriend, Sara McMeen.

Wendy Warren was grief-stricken when an official from Livingston County Coroner’s office in Illinois notified her on Friday that her son had been shot dead and that Maggie, his 10-month-old baby daughter with Sara, had also been brutally killed by McMeen.

Sara’s two older children; Skylar Lemke, 8, and Ian Lemke, 7, from her relationship with ex-boyfriend Brad Lemke were also found dead at the home in the small farming town of Emington.

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“Sara and my grandbaby came by to see me just the day before it happened,” Wendy tells RadarOnline.com exclusively. “She was happy and everything. She came to collect some clothes that I had bought for baby Maggie.”

Wendy revealed that Sara suffered from Bipolar disorder but wasn’t on any medication. She said that Sara and her 29-year-old son had been dating on and off for five years.

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“They had their issues and they’d fight but they’d get back together,” Wendy shared. “They had bought rings but they weren’t married. They were working on their issues.

“I was going to spend Christmas with them. My son was going to pick me up on the 23rd and I was going over to their house for the holidays.”

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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, McMeen shot her two sons and her boyfriend before taking little Maggie to the yard, wrapping her in a blanket and shooting her at point blank range in front of a horrified neighbor.  She then turned the gun on herself and committed suicide.

Wendy Warren tells us her son, who worked at a nuclear plant as a security guard, was a good man and looked after Sara’s two older children like they were his own.

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But she said that he had several guns in the home including one that he bought recently that he was “very proud of.”

“There were three children in the house so he never kept the bullets the same place as the weapons and he always had them locked up,” Wendy said. “He had always wanted to be a cop but was happy working in security.”

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Wendy said that she had spoken to Sara’s family who were distraught and that they were all consoling each other.

“None of it makes any sense at all to us,” she shared. “Sara came from a big family and was one of nine children. Nobody understands what led her to do this.”

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The father of two young children shot to death Friday by their mother, has spoken exclusively to RadarOnline.com about the horrendous crime.

Brad Lemke told us that he felt “numb” at the loss of his young children; Skylar, 8, and Ian, 7.

His ex, Sara McMeen, shot her 10-month-old baby Maggie at point blank range before turning the gun on herself in a chilling murder-suicide.

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Responding cops and paramedics then found McMeen's boyfriend,the baby’s father Daniel Warren, 29, and Sara’s two kids by Lemke, dead at the home in the small farming town of Emington.

It's believed McMeen had murdered Skylar, Ian and her boyfriend before killing her infant and turning the gun on herself.

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Brad Lemke revealed that he shared custody of the children with Sara since their split and was at a loss for words to describe how he was feeling but he is devastated.

“I was very close to my children. I’m not good. I just saw them last weekend," he tells us.

The distraught father lives just over 10 miles from where his children were killed. He says he has spoken to Sara’s family but so far has been given little information from law enforcement.

Sheriff Martin Meredith revealed that a semi-automatic pistol was recovered at the scene of the heinous killings and called the situation “very gut-wrenching.”

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Lemke's children were seen getting off of their school bus just a short while before they were killed.,“They were happy because it was the last day of school before Christmas break,” McMeen neighbor Ronald Groetsema remembered.

Another eyewitness said they saw the kids playing in the backyard at the home before they were brutally slain.

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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, a neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told the Pontiac Daily Reader she heard around five gunshots around 2.30pm and ran outside to see what was going on.

“I saw my neighbor in the back yard and she was wrapping her baby daughter in a blanket on the ground,” the woman said about seeing Sara with her baby moments before they both died. “At first I thought maybe she had been startled and dropped her daughter. I asked her if everything was OK. She said, ‘No, everything is not OK.’

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“She was standing over the baby and she bent at the waist and shot point-blank. I instinctively ran. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Sara's mother Cynthia has now released a statement:

"The family grieves over the loss of their loved ones. They realize this (tragic) incident affects not only their family, but other families as well. The family is drawing together during this time, relying on God, and grieving. They would ask for your prayers for all the families involved and would like their privacy to be honored."

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An Illinois mother shot and killed her 10-month-old baby daughter at point blank range while a horrified neighbor looked on. She then turned the gun on herself in a chilling murder-suicide that left five people dead.

Sara McMeen, 30, was found dead at her home in the small farming town of Emington on Friday afternoon.

Livingston County Coroner Michael Burke said that the woman’s two older children; Skyler Lemke, 8, Ian Lemke, 7, and her live-in boyfriend, Daniel Warren, 29, had been murdered as well. Warren was the father of McMeen's infant daughter Maggie.

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Sheriff Martin Meredith revealed that a semi-automatic pistol was recovered at the scene and called the situation “very gut-wrenching.”

A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told the Pontiac Daily Reader that she heard around five gunshots around 2.30pm and ran outside to see what was going on.

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“I saw my neighbor in the back yard and she was wrapping her baby daughter in a blanket on the ground,” the woman recalled. “At first I thought maybe she had been startled and dropped her daughter. I asked her if everything was OK. She said, ‘No, everything is not OK.’

“She was standing over the baby and she bent at the waist and shot point-blank. I instinctively ran. I just couldn’t believe it.”

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Neighbors revealed that the young family had only moved into the area a few months ago and that while the children were delightful, they heard arguments sometimes between the two adults.

The investigation is continuing.

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