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GREENSBORO — Mary Ann Holder was a fit mother.

Holder’s attorney told the court as much on Nov. 18. Give her permanent custody of her nephew and two nieces, he asked in a complaint filed that day.

Their mother is dead. Their father can’t provide a safe home, he wrote.

The children already live with Holder, already think of her as their mom. They’re “well-adjusted to life” there.

Less than 40 hours later, Holder shot two of those children in the head.

Authorities say on the morning of Nov. 20, Holder shot four children sleeping in her home at 923 Cocoa Drive:

• Her son, Dylan Smith, 17.
• Her niece, Hanaleigh Suttles, 8.
• Her nephew, Ricky Suttles, 17.
• Makayla Woods, 15, Dylan’s girlfriend.

She shot her former boyfriend, Randy Lamb, in the elbow and shoulder.

She shot her son Zack Smith, 14, while he was in the backseat of her SUV. Then she killed herself.

Only Lamb survived.

In restaurants and waiting rooms, inside homes and schools, people have one question: Why?

Seven days later, there are few answers.

Court documents and interviews conducted by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office shine a light, however dim.

Holder was the central figure in two high-stakes dramas — the custody arrangement and fallout from her affair with Lamb. The crises converged in the hours before Holder started shooting.

Each revelation adds complexity.

Few people alive have answers. They’re not talking.

Affair turned ugly

The Holder-Lamb affair began in early 2008, give or take.

It’s not clear when Lamb’s wife, Jennifer, found out. The Lambs haven’t returned telephone calls.

In February, Jennifer Lamb filed a temporary restraining order against Holder, saying that Holder thwarted their reconciliation.

Jennifer Lamb wrote: “Ms. Holder continues to call cellphones belonging to me, also called my home, sent text messages and email, including naked pictures of herself and follow me and my children.

“If we go to the mall she shows up, movies and stores. She also moved her son to my son’s school to be near my family and recently she tried to run me off the road and follow me down Elm Street.”

Officials dismissed the case when neither woman came to a hearing.

In midsummer, Holder won a temporary restraining order against the Lambs. Jennifer Lamb called repeatedly, she said. Randy Lamb drove by her house 10 times and called 100 times within a few days.

Holder wrote: “He has threatened to come by anytime he wants too (sic) and has said if I give him what he wants he will stop his wife from filing alienation of affection charge, but if not he is going to enjoy his new car that I pay for.”

The restraining order expired July 7.

During much of the affair and its aftermath, Holder had another source of stress, and, friends say, a source of great joy — additional children in her household.

Holder took in the three kids of Carrie Beth Hunt Suttles, her friend and former sister-in-law, after Suttles died of pneumonia.

Holder was their surrogate mother, plain and simple. At least that’s the picture she paints in court records, which tell this story:

Holder was there with Suttles on Dec. 4, 2002, when Hanaleigh was born. Hanaleigh’s father, Brian Suttles, was not.

Holder was there again — and not the father — when Carrie Suttles gave birth to Shianne earlier this year.

Brian Suttles hurt his estranged wife badly enough to send her into labor Feb. 12, Holder said. Shianne arrived on Valentine’s Day, her life already in turmoil; the hospital placed Carrie Suttles under protection, banning Brian Suttles from the grounds.

It’s unclear whether anyone filed a police report. Suttles declined to be interviewed for this article.

Things grew more grim. By Feb. 19, the new mother had pneumonia and was hooked to a ventilator.

On that day, Hanaleigh and Shianne moved in with Holder. Their older brother, Ricky, had lived there since July 2008, for reasons that aren’t clear.

Holder wanted custody. She produced a statement from Carrie Suttles:

“If I am ever unable to physically care for my children, Mary Ann Holder is to take care of my minor children and has all physical and legal rights to make decisions for the children and to care for them.”

Brian Suttles signed away parental rights for one year on March 8.

Carrie Suttles died the next day.

For months after, Holder posted updates online about the children. Ricky was taking college courses. Hanaleigh was thriving at a new school. Shianne was crawling.

“All in all, life is good,” she wrote Oct. 27. “There are days when things seem like they can’t get any worse, and there are days when it seems like they could not be better.”

Keeping the children

By mid-November, Holder thought she was going to lose those children.

Brian Suttles, she believed, wanted them to be with his brother in Wake County, and had asked Child Protective Services to move them out of Holder’s house.

On Nov. 18, Holder again started court proceedings to keep the Suttles children, this time for good. Her attorney filed a complaint in Guilford County District Court asking for permanent custody rights.

Brian Suttles, the complaint alleged, exposed the kids to drug use and “extremely violent acts of domestic violence.”

Hanaleigh was receiving counseling for seeing those acts and losing her mother, it said. Ricky had recently asked for counseling, too.

Suspend all visitation and contact between Brian Suttles and his children, the complaint requested.

The next day — Saturday, Nov. 19 — Holder attended to another source of chaos in her life:

She met Randy Lamb at the Walmart on Elmsley Drive. She gave him a $10,000 check, made out to Jennifer Lamb.

Unclear timeline

The sequence of events on Sunday, Nov. 20, is not — nor will it ever be — firmly set.

Investigators say they think it happened this way:

At 8:52 a.m., Holder and Randy Lamb met at GTCC’s Aviation Center at 260 Regional Road. Holder shot Lamb in the shoulder and elbow. Lamb had a handgun, but deputies don’t believe he displayed it.

At 8:55 a.m., Lamb drove off and eventually called his wife.

At 9:08 a.m., Jennifer Lamb called 911, saying her husband had been shot. Randy Lamb arrived home — 5801 Harvest Springs Drive in southern Guilford County — in time to give a dispatcher Holder’s address and a description of her SUV.

At 9:22 a.m., deputies waited outside Holder’s home.

Around that time, Holder arranged to pick up Zack from the home of Mark and Stacy Couch. Stacy Couch was her best friend. Zack spent Saturday night there with 15-year-old Nick Couch.

The boys originally planned to sleep at Holder’s. Stacy Couch said no. Nick hadn’t cleaned his room, as instructed. As punishment, the sleepover would be at the Couches’.

Holder called Stacy Couch from Makayla’s cellphone to arrange the pickup. “I love you,” she said purposefully before hanging up.

Shortly after, Holder beeped her horn for Zack.

At 9:44 a.m., Zack sent a text to the Couches: “Thanks for letting me spend the night. I had a fun time.”

Investigators don’t know where Zack was when he sent the message.

But they do know where he was at 10:11 a.m. — in Holder’s black Ford Explorer, parked on Remora Road near her home.

A deputy saw a puff of smoke inside her SUV. Zack was in the backseat, shot in the head. Holder was dead behind the wheel.

Moments later, deputies entered Holder’s home. They found four children with bullet wounds in their heads.

Officials don’t know when Holder shot them. No one called 911.

Also, there’s no one to ask.

Looking for answers

It is unsatisfactory, this business of “how” and “when” and “why.”

Why did Holder do it?

Why did she kill her own sons? Why would she kill kids she sought to protect just two days earlier?

Were the children dead when Holder called Stacy Couch from Makayla’s cell phone? What about Zack? How long before he realized something was wrong?

Holder left two notes, which investigators have declined to make public. She apologizes, takes responsibility, implies she was wronged. Neither provides a clear motive.

Investigators found two handguns that Holder used in the shootings. They believe she acted alone.

But last week, they continued to question Randy and Jennifer Lamb.

The sheriff’s department has conducted two searches of their home. They seized guns and ammunition, along with cameras, cellphones and computers Lamb might have used to plan meetings with Holder.

Col. Randy Powers said some people have implicated Lamb in the shootings.

“At this time, he’s not a suspect,” Powers said. “We’re just not leaving any stones unturned.”

Jennifer Lamb has said she started an alienation of affection lawsuit against Holder — a legal remedy for wronged wives to seek justice and money from the other woman.

There’s no record of the suit in the court system.

Lamb produced the $10,000 check. Investigators suggest it was an out-of-court settlement.

Tears, questions

The childrens’ deaths did not come immediately.

Dylan Smith, Holder’s 17-year-old, was the first declared dead — not long after investigators found him at Holder’s home.

Zack Smith, the 14-year-old Holder shot while in the SUV, died Monday.

The niece whose birth Holder witnessed, 8-year-old Hanaleigh Suttles, died Tuesday.

Makayla Woods, Dylan’s 15-year-old girlfriend, died Wednesday. She endured two surgeries, including one to remove a bullet wedged in her brain.

Ricky Suttles — the nephew for whom Holder had cared since 2008 — died Friday.

There was never much hope for any of them. Those who lingered did so only through life support. Doctors kept some alive long enough to transplant their young, healthy organs.

The time allowed family and friends to gather and grieve.

On Sunday, they filled Moses Cone Hospital by the dozens — family, neighbors, students from Zack and Makayla’s school.

The scene replayed each day as they waited for the children to die.

Dylan, Zack, Ricky and Hanaleigh will share a memorial service at 3 p.m. Thursday at Pleasant Garden Baptist Church, WGHP (Fox, Channel 8) reported on its Website. Their funeral will be 10 a.m. Friday at Lakeview Memorial Park.

Holder’s surviving child, Christina Smith, is handling arrangements. The News & Record hasn’t been able to interview her.

Friends say she’s caring for 9-month-old Shianne.

As for the facts of the case, forensic tests will fill a few gaps.

Investigators will receive autopsy and toxicology reports on the children and Holder. They’ll discover whether they had chemicals, natural or otherwise, in their systems. They’ll review gunshot residue and DNA tests to determine whether Holder acted alone.

Those aren’t the questions people want answered.

They want to know why.

Mark Couch, who hosted Zack Smith in his home the night before he died, said Holder’s life revolved around the kids. Her affair with Lamb was in the past. She had started a new romance.

Couch said: “She told my wife that she had found 'The One.’”

His only explanation for the events of Nov. 20: Holder faced something so terrible she felt neither she nor the children could continue living,

“Knowing how bad she wanted to give those kids a good, stable home,” he said, “that’s why none of this makes sense.”

Staff writers Jonnelle Davis, Tina Firesheets, Joe Killian, Taft Wireback and Dioni L. Wise contributed.

Contact Margaret Moffett Banks at 373-7031 or margaret.banks@news-record.com