In a remote cabin nestled deep within the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest near Deer Lodge, Montana, the life of five-year-old Augustine Bournes was tragically cut short on June 7, 2015. The young, mixed-race boy, known affectionately as Gus, was found deceased alongside his family in what authorities determined to be a horrific murder-suicide.
The idyllic life they appeared to have, living off-the-grid in a home built by their father, masked a darkness that would ultimately consume them all.
On that fateful Sunday morning, the stillness of the forest was shattered by a series of gunshots. The perpetrator was the patriarch of the family, 59-year-old Michael Augustine Bournes. In a chilling phone call to an acquaintance, he confessed to having shot his wife and three children, stating that his wife had been "mocking and riding him all day". This acquaintance immediately alerted the authorities, but the family's secluded cabin proved difficult to locate. By the time law enforcement and fire crews arrived, the home was engulfed in flames, a final, destructive act set in motion by Michael Bournes.
Inside the charred remains of their home, investigators pieced together the devastating sequence of events. Michael Bournes had first shot his 37-year-old wife, Arie Arlynn Lee, and their one-year-old daughter, also named Arie. He then went outside and shot his two sons, Augustine and his four-year-old brother Woodrow, before carrying their bodies back inside. He placed his children on a bed, set fire to the cabin, and then lay down beside them, taking his own life with the same. 45-caliber handgun used to end the lives of his family.
The tight-knit community of Deer Lodge was left reeling from the loss of the entire family. Friends and acquaintances remembered Arie as a sociable and devoted mother who was active in the community, a stark contrast to her husband who was described as controlling and harbored anti-government sentiments. The investigation into the deaths concluded that Michael Augustine Bournes was the sole person responsible for the deaths of his wife and children. As it was a murder-suicide, there were no arrests or outside suspects. The case was closed by the Anaconda-Deer Lodge Police Chief, leaving a community to mourn the senseless loss of a mother and her three young children, including a five-year-old boy whose life had just begun.
