NORTON - When her ex-husband filed for emergency physical custody of their children two years ago, Elizabeth Cann defended the man who later killed her and shot two of her daughters.

"Bob McDermott loves my girls and if I felt he was a threat to them in any way, he would not be in our lives," Cann wrote in December 2005, according to court records.

Cann, who three months earlier had dropped her restraining order against McDermott, contended her husband was lying about McDermott's alleged drunken and abusive behavior toward the children.

The family saga turned tragic when Elizabeth Cann, 44, was found Monday morning with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Daughters Danielle, 15, and Brittany, 12, were found critically wounded, each one also shot in the head. They remained in critical condition Wednesday night at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence.

The oldest Cann daughter, Amanda, 17, was away in Florida at the time of the attack. McDermott later turned the gun on himself before being struck by a train in Walpole early Monday.

In December 2005, Wayne Cann had filed for emergency custody of his three children, alleging they felt threatened by McDermott's presence and that the household was unstable, according to court records.

He filed the request on Dec. 5, records say, two days after his daughter, Danielle, told him that McDermott "was acting funny and smelled of alcohol and pushed her hard enough to knock her off her feet."

All three children, he wrote, told him McDermott was "verbally abusive" and they felt frightened on many occasions.

Despite concerns about his children's well-being, however, Wayne Cann never followed through with his request for custody. Family members say he felt the court would not grant him custody.

Elizabeth Cann filed for divorce in September 1998, and court records indicate that both she and her husband traded charges against each other.

Elizabeth Cann, who met McDermott a month later, described her ex-husband in court papers as "controlling and demeaning."

Elizabeth Cann said she and McDermott began dating without the knowledge of her children at first. But then McDermott became part of their lives, according to court records.

"When the girls did get to know him," Elizabeth Cann wrote, "they would go fishing together, learn to ride bikes and build snowmen."

McDermott moved in with Elizabeth Cann and her children in June 2001, long after her divorce became final in May 2000, according to court records. Wayne Cann remarried and lives with his wife, Melissa, and two children in Easton, court records indicate.

Wayne Cann and McDermott also did not get along, according to court records, and one of their disputes in the summer of 2000 ended up in Attleboro District Court.

McDermott was ultimately found innocent of uttering threats to do bodily harm after a jury trial.