A woman, Oreanna Myers, 25, from West Virginia murdered her five children, burnt her house with their bodies inside and then fatally shot herself in December.
Myers, was the mother of three of the kids and stepmother to the two others, according to police and shot all five in the head with a shotgun.
Myers shot each of the children inside the house, then walked outside and turned the gun on herself, police said. The children’s names were Shaun Bumgarner, 7; Riley Bumgarner, 6; Kian Myers, 4; Arikyle Myers, 3; and Haiken Myers, 1.
Myers and her husband, Brian Bumgarner, lived in the tiny town of Williamsburg, W.Va., about 30 miles from the Virginia state line in southeast West Virginia.
Her husband was staying with relatives on Dec. 8, the day the tragic incident occured because his car had broken down and he needed transportation to work.
Investigators say they found several text messages from Myers to Bumgarner before Dec. 8.
“You’ll have nothing to come back to but [a] corpse. No one cares why should I?” Myers wrote in one text.
“Money will come and go, once I go there’s no replacing me. I beg and cry for help but never get it. It’s my mental health that needs tending to–help me– I do not care anymore.”
Myers left three separate notes besides her body, including a chilling confession.
“I had shot all of the boys in the head. I had set house on fire. I had shot myself in the head,” Myers wrote.
“I’m sorry. Mental health is serious. I hope one day someone will help others like me. Mental health is not to joke about or taken lightly. When someone begs, pleads, cries out for help, please help them. You just might save a life or more lives.”
In another note, Myers wrote, “This is no one’s fault but my own. My demons won over me, and there’s no going back. So sorry I wasn’t strong enough.”
Police say Myers had no documented history of mental health problems and that Child Protective Services was never in contact with Bumgarner or Myers.
The County Sheriff Bruce Sloan, absolving any possibility of foul play, said physical evidence matched Myers’ account in her confession and encouraged anyone battling mental health issues to seek help.
