No one guessed that when Ronald Gene Simmons, 47, gunned down several people on the morning of December 28, 1987 in Russellville, Arkansas, he was actually winding down. What appeared to be a contained incident of workplace violence was far worse. Indeed, it set a record.
Investigators learned where Simmons lived and that he apparently had no phone, so they went out to notify his family, some 15 miles outside town in a remote area. What they found at the end of a rutted, red-clay drive were two mobile homes put together and barricaded like a fortress with cinder blocks and barbed wire. Despite "No Trespassing" signs, they knocked at the door, but no one answered. The place seemed weirdly silent. The two officers began to wonder if Simmons' killing spree had begun here, so they found a window they could enter and went inside.
Investigators soon learned that Simmons, a man obsessed with order and keeping schedules, had kept his family captive in that run-down joint, and had been abusing his wife and daughters. He kept tight control over them, allowing the children to go to school, but nothing more. No mail came to the house, no calls, no friends. They had chores to do, but never went on any fun family outings. They lived amid a heap of junked cars and Simmons' unfinished projects.
a grisly discovery was made all members of Simmons family had been murdered, but what caused him to loose control?
Investigators learned where Simmons lived and that he apparently had no phone, so they went out to notify his family, some 15 miles outside town in a remote area. What they found at the end of a rutted, red-clay drive were two mobile homes put together and barricaded like a fortress with cinder blocks and barbed wire. Despite "No Trespassing" signs, they knocked at the door, but no one answered. The place seemed weirdly silent. The two officers began to wonder if Simmons' killing spree had begun here, so they found a window they could enter and went inside.
Investigators soon learned that Simmons, a man obsessed with order and keeping schedules, had kept his family captive in that run-down joint, and had been abusing his wife and daughters. He kept tight control over them, allowing the children to go to school, but nothing more. No mail came to the house, no calls, no friends. They had chores to do, but never went on any fun family outings. They lived amid a heap of junked cars and Simmons' unfinished projects.
a grisly discovery was made all members of Simmons family had been murdered, but what caused him to loose control?
