A West Virginia dad and husband, whose wife killed five children and herself before burning their house down, urged friends and family to “hug everyone you love a lot tighter” and never leave anyone in an argument, the US Sun reports.
Brian Bumgarner was staying with family during the work week because of transportation issues and wasn’t at the house with Oreanna Antoinette Myers and the children when the shooting took place, as CrimeOnline previously reported. He and Myers, who suffered from severe depression, had been arguing over those living arrangements, before she shot their three children and two children from Bumgarner’s previous marriage and then herself. The children ranged in age from 1 to 7.
After Greenbrier County Sheriff Bruce Sloan released details of the slayings and notes Myers, 25, had left, Bumgarner posted a meme from the Facebook page “Positive vibes and beautiful things”:
“Here’s my advice. Hug everyone you love a lot tighter. Never leave someone in an argument. Be Present. Say I love you way too much.
“Take a lot of pictures with the ones you love. You never know when it’ll be the last time you see them. Please don’t take any second for granted.”
Sloan said that the family had just one vehicle, and it had been involved in a crash, prompting Bumgarner to stay with a family members during the week so he could get a ride to work. Text messages between the two were searing after he left for the relative’s on December 6, 2020.
“You’ll have nothing to come back to but to corpse. No one cares why should I?” Myers wrote, according to WV Metro News. “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.”
On December 9 — the day after the shootings and fire — Bumgarner wrote on Facebook thanking friends and family for reaching out. “I can’t get back to all of you but in a truly dark time. I feel like I could fall and all of you guys would catch me,” he wrote, according to The Sun.
Myers left multiple notes, a confession, and a will and apologized for her actions. “I’m so sorry Brian,” she wrote. “I was not strong enough for you or this family. I’m sorry for my evil crimes. I was not able to fight these demons.”
“I’m sorry. Mental health is serious. I hope someday someone will help others like me,” she wrote, according to WV Metro News. “Mental health is not to joke about or to take lightly. When someone begs, pleads, cries out for help, please help them. You just might save a life or more lives.”
The child victims were identified as Shaun Dawson Bumgarner, 7; Riley James Bumgarner, 6; Kian Myers, 4; Aarikyle Nova Myers, 3; and Haiken Jirachi Myers, 1.
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[Feature image: Riley James Bumgarner and Shaun Dawson Bumgarner/Facebook]
