Ohio Murders Triggered By Orange [Video]

A dispute in Ohio about what to feed a terminally-ill woman sparked off a murderous rampage. Paul David Gilkey shot his two sisters-in-law, his son and then himself after an argument about what to feed his wife. Hocking County Sheriff Lanny North told NBC 4: “They had given Darlene a meal, toast and I believe a banana, toast and tea prior and when [Paul] already had an orange peeled for her and that seemed to be the issue that spurred [Paul] to his rampage.” Something had very obviously gone wrong and sparked off the murders and the police arrived to find carnage.

The extreme behaviour had continued as Gilkey stepped outside looking to kill more people. His cousin Matthew Henderson said he’d spoken to Paul’s wife: “I said, ‘What’s he doing?’ (She said) ‘I think he’s waiting on more people to come so he could kill them.'” Henderson also believes that depression and the situation with his terminally-ill wife, Darlene, contributed to what happened saying Paul had told him “When she dies, they might as well bury me too.” He also told police that Paul David Gilkey had purchased plots in the Oak Grove Cemetery the previous week.

Paul David Gilkey already had an extremely violent past as he’d been in jail for 10 years for beating a man to death with a fence post in 1974 and he’d also allegedly stabbed his own father in 1986. Gilkey did not murder his wife or his stepson, Ralph Sowers III, allowing them to get away.

Source: The Jackson County Times-Journal