Police and family members are still coming to terms with the deaths of five children, apparently carried out by their mother and stepmother, 25-year-old Oreanna Antoinette Myers. According to a police news conference, the bodies of Myers, her three children, and two stepchildren were found in their home near Williamsburg, West Virginia on December 8, 2020. Myers had apparently shot Shaun Dawson Bumgarner, 7; Riley James Bumgarner, 6; Kian Myers, 4; Aarikyle Nova Myers, 3; and Haiken Jirachi Myers, 1, before setting the family home on fire. She then turned the gun on herself.
A series of notes left to her husband and family, along with a will and a confession letter, had been left in a plastic bag that had been taped to the passenger side mirror of the family car. Shortly before the killings, she texted her husband telling him that she had left something for him in their car. The husband, Brian Myers, had been living at his father's house to be closer to work and also because he and his wife had been engaged in an acrimonious dispute over family living arrangements.
In one of the notes that Oreanna Myers left to her husband, she wrote "You’ll have nothing to come back to but to corpse [sic]. No one cares why should I? 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.” After the killings, she then texted Brian saying " “I’m so sorry Brian. I was not strong enough for you or this family. My head is so (expletive). “I’m sorry for my evil crime. I was not strong enough to fight these demons, Snap. Crunch, Boom. So depressed. Heart numb. Soul completely shattered. I am sorry I failed you. I am sorry I failed our handsome boys. I am so sorry I was not strong enough. OAM.”
While Oreanna Myers had a longstanding interest in the occult, including witchcraft and spiritualism, there was no prior indication of what she intended. Despite the strain of raising five children and being separated from her husband, there was no history of abuse and local Child Protective Services had no file on record for the family. While Brian Myers and other family members remain silent about how they are dealing with the tragedy, Raven Bumgartner, 27, mother of Shaun and Riley, is open about her own anger.
I feel she was of complete sound mind," Bumgartner said. " She didn’t write me a letter, she was selfish and she wanted to hurt people. This was planned, and I can’t get my boys back. She murdered my babies." It is only the three-year-old child she has from another relationship that allows her to cope at all. "“It’s hard. It really is hard. I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have my daughter." The children's bodies have yet to be released for burial and it will likely take up to a year to complete the coroner's report.
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