Kids' murder during unsupervised custody led to Arizona woman's fight for family court reform

PHOENIX - Help is available. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Support in Spanish is also available. You can also chat with crisis counselors via online chat.

CLICK HERE for the warning signs and risk factors of suicide.

PHOENIX - Filicide.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it means the "murder or killing of one's own daughter or son."

It’s also a word no parent should ever have to know, and after losing her two children to a shooting carried out by her ex-husband, one mother is taking her grief to the state Capitol.

The backstory:

Hope Hooton is still picking up the pieces, after her children, Alec Mater and Lydia Mater, were shot and killed by their father, 34-year-old Brock Mater.

Hope still remembers that fateful day.

"It was the Monday before summer break. So, I thought in my head, that's very strange. Why would they be absent? There were only four more days of that school week before summer," Hope said. "I remember there were two police officers that came towards me, and they said, 'we're sorry to inform you, but all three are deceased inside,' and yeah, that's when my world shattered."

The tragedy happened on May 20, 2024, when Brock shot and killed Alec and Lydia before turning the gun on himself inside his apartment in Surprise, which was located near Bell and Litchfield roads.

At the time of their deaths, Alec was 7 years old, while Lydia had just turned 6.

Dig deeper:

The shooting happened in May 2024, but the warning signs came several months before.

In October 2023, Hope told Brock that she wanted a divorce following an argument. Brock responded by saying he was going to kill himself, according to court records. Then, Hope got an order of protection against Brock, asking the court to not allow him to have firearms and in-person contact with her.

A week later, on Oct. 16, family court records say Brock violated the order when he showed up to Hope’s home, yelling and screaming. Later that day, he took the kids out of school and took them to a hotel. Court documents also reveal that Brock called police and reported having "suicidal and homicidal ideations," in fear for himself and the kids.

"I started getting really weird phone calls from him that didn't sound like him," Hope recounted. "He was talking about biblical ideologies that we don't believe in, demons and cults, and that our marriage wasn't a covenant marriage."

Brock allegedly spoke of demons and cults after expressing that his church might be influenced by the Church of Satan. That manic episode resulted in treatment for bipolar disorder at a psychiatric hospital for one week. Despite this, temporary orders by a judge gave both parents equal parenting time and joint legal decision-making following a hearing in November 2023.

"Do you feel like the judge that you had should be held accountable?" we asked Hope.

"I definitely do and that's why I'm spreading awareness and talking about my case," Hope replied. "I say his name out loud: it's Judge Michael Valenzuela."

Who's Judge Michael Valenzuela?

Judge Michael Valenzuela was assigned to Maricopa County Family Court from 2022 to June 2025, when he was assigned to a civil court department in Phoenix. 

According to his biography on the Maricopa County Superior Court's website, Valenzuela served as an Assistant Attorney General for the state prior to his time as a judge.

In a statement from then-governor Doug Ducey's office in 2022, it was mentioned that Valenzuela served in the Arizona Attorney General's Office's Child and Family Protection Division for six years before he was moved to the office's Criminal Appeals section.

What The Judge Wrote:

In Valenzuela’s orders, he wrote that to mandate supervision, he had to find that the children were in actual danger.

"I knew Brock was unsafe to be with the children, unsupervised, but my hands were tied because that was their court, and that was their ruling," Hope said.

Six months later, Alec and Lydia were murdered.

Hope advocates for new child safety bill

In the Arizona legislative session of 2026, Hope is fighting back.

"There was no evidentiary hearing specifically focused on domestic violence. The court did not fully evaluate strangulation, coercive control, suicidal or filicidal ideation, and acute psychiatric instability together before granting unsupervised parenting time," said Hope, during a meeting at the Arizona State Capitol on February 18, 2026.

House Bill 2995, also known as the "Alec and Lydia Act," would force courts to prioritize safety over equal time. It requires judges to make written findings on domestic violence patterns, using police records and medical history as primary evidence.

Republican State Rep. Lisa Fink is sponsoring the bill.

"It acknowledges real world abuse patterns, intimidation, isolation, financial control, threats and technological surveillance. This is a significant correlation between coercive control, and homicide and suicide," said State Rep. Fink, who represents the state's 27th Legislative District.

After that evidentiary hearing in 2023, Judge Valenzuela wrote that the evidence considered in his decision included case history and exhibits, like text messages between both parties. Hope believes that if a law like HB2995 was in place during her custody battle, Brock’s mental health crisis would get a much closer look, and he would be legally barred from unsupervised time with their kids.

Court-appointed doctors evaluated Brock Mater as the divorce proceedings went on for months, all while sharing equal parenting time.

"The court notes that the evaluation looked pretty comprehensive, and ultimately, there were some recommendations about follow-up care," Judge Valenzuela was heard saying during a hearing on April 4, 2024.

By April 2024, Judge Valenzuela determined that there were no safety concerns as long as Brock was compliant with treatment and medications. A little more than a month later, Brock murdered Alec and Lydia before killing himself.

"It looks like all of our worst fears have been realized at this point," Judge Valenzuela said.

The other side:

We reached out to the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County to see if Valenzuela could comment on what transpired. The court responded with the following statement:

"The deaths of these two children are a devastating tragedy. In this case, the Court held an evidentiary hearing in November 2023 at which it considered testimony and documentary evidence.

Following that hearing, the Court ordered a psychological evaluation and ordered that Mr. Mater comply with any prescribed medication for his bipolar disorder and to provide the children’s mother with proof of his compliance. The Court further found that non-compliance could serve as grounds for restricting Mr. Mater’s parenting time.

Between that hearing and the tragic events of late May 2024, the Court received no further motions or requests to restrict Mr. Mater’s parenting time. Domestic violence and serious mental illness are among the most complex and difficult challenges that families and courts face. The Court takes those responsibilities with the utmost seriousness.

Out of respect for the family and in accordance with the ethical obligations governing judicial officers, the Court is unable to comment further."

Family court expert weighs in

"I believe that in cases that have been known to the courts where murder, suicides, and other horrible things happen that those judges, that those names and those cases need to be out in the open. They need to be publicized," said Professor Dale Margolin Cecka of Albany Law School.

Expert Perspective:

Professor Cecka is an expert on family court and studies filicide by fathers. She says research has shown that joint or sole custody is awarded to fathers accused of domestic violence around 70 percent of the time.

"The most dangerous time for a victim is after separation. So, what you see is families, a victim or the perpetrator will go to court to get a custody order and courts, what I write about and study is courts’ failure often to either have time for or to really interrogate what's actually going on, and what patterns of violence and other control is going on," said Professor Cecka.

What's next:

As for Hope, she keeps her children’s memory alive by advocating for change at the Capitol.

Instead of being angry, she’s grateful for the years she spent with them.

"It was great being their mom and I'm so blessed to have the time that I've had with them to watch them grow," said Hope.

Help is available. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Support in Spanish is also available. You can also chat with crisis counselors via online chat.

CLICK HERE for the warning signs and risk factors of suicide.