In the quiet community of Williamsburg, West Virginia, a heart-wrenching tragedy unfolded on December 8, 2020, claiming the life of 3-year-old Aarikyle Nova Myers, a Caucasian male. Aarikyle, who loved painting, Ninja Turtles, and superheroes, was one of five children whose lives were cut short that day. His siblings, Haiken Jirachi Myers, age 1, and Kian Myers, age 4, also died, along with their step-siblings Shaun Dawson Bumgarner, 7, and Riley James Bumgarner, 6.
The children were
found at their home on Flynn Creek Road after a fire was reported. Investigators determined that the children s mother and Aarikyle's mother, 25-year-old Oreanna Antoinette Myers, was the perpetrator. She fatally shot all five children with a shotgun before setting their house on fire and then taking her own life outside the residence. Authorities found Oreanna's body near a picnic table with the shotgun next to her. The bodies of four of the children were discovered inside the home on the day of the fire, while the fifth child's remains were recovered from the debris four days later.
The investigation concluded that Oreanna Myers acted alone in what was determined to be a murder-suicide. Before the incident, she had sent text messages to her husband, Brian Bumgarner, that revealed her distress over his absence during the week for work due to transportation issues. One of the messages read, "You'll have nothing to come back to but to corpse. No one cares why should I? Oreanna left several notes confessing to the killings and the arson. In these notes, she expressed her struggles with mental health, writing, "This is no one's fault but my own. My demons won over me. Sorry, I wasn't strong enough." She also wrote, "Mental health is serious. I hope somebody someone will help others like me." As Oreanna Myers was deceased, no arrests were made, and the case was closed.
