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Lewis County Sheriff officials say a man shot and killed three of his children and later killed himself, after torching the new
house he was building.
Gayle Sams' estranged wife, Libby Sams, and their 14-year-old daughter escaped the incident unharmed by fleeing to a
neighbors house. Two four-year-old girls and a 17-year-old boy were killed at the family's Horner area home.
Sams, who had been expecting divorce papers from his wife, showed up at the home about 11 p.m. Sunday night and shot
the three children. He then set fire to his truck and the new house. The new house was about one mile away from their
current home on Stonecoal Lake.
Firefighters were summoned but hampered because of deep snow, road conditions and the uncertainty of Sams'
whereabouts. About an hour after their arrival at the scene, a gunshot was heard, Sams' body was found in the woods early
Monday morning.
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