A memorial service is scheduled Saturday morning in Seattle's St. Mark's Episcopal Church for Denise McCoy and her four children, murder victims in a rural Idaho farming area.
The bodies of McCoy, 33, and children Genevieve King, 12; Jordan King, 10; Chelsea King, 8; and Adrianna McCoy, 2, were found by McCoy's fiance, Dean Barney Jr., 25, when he came home from work around midnight Tuesday, police said.
Authorities are calling it a murder-suicide. A family friend, Walter Edward Schoolcraft, 48, a bachelor sharecropper, was found dead at another farm a couple of miles away. Investigators say it appears that Schoolcraft shot McCoy and her children, then drove to the farm where he worked and killed himself.
News of the murders spread quickly in the Eugene-Springfield area of Oregon. McCoy and her former husband, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael King, grew up there.
King, now of Seattle, is the father of the three oldest children. He said the father of the youngest child lives in Colorado.
King said he and McCoy met in high school and were friends before he joined the Air Force. When he came back from his first tour of duty in 1983, a romance kindled and the pair married a few months later in New Mexico, where King was stationed. Their three children were born there.
McCoy and the children returned to Springfield while King was on active duty in the Persian Gulf War. They moved to upstate New York and the couple divorced in 1992. McCoy moved to Gooding, Idaho, to be near her mother and stepfather, Allen and Lou Fox.
King said although his relationship with McCoy was difficult, both financially and emotionally, her com-mitment to the children never faltered.
``The kids were her mission in life, and she was out to succeed. She did a very good job,'' he said. ``Denise was almost what you would call pioneer stock. She was very hardy. She had a lot of stick-to-it-iveness.''
King said he had met McCoy's fiance, Barney, who also served in the Air Force, two years ago and described him as a very nice guy. ``Denise was a better person around him,'' he said.
When McCoy enrolled in college in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1994, she was a single mother with her youngest child still an infant. She was on welfare for a brief time and determined to get off.
Larry Farris of Springfield was a high school friend of McCoy. He remembered her as an outgoing, popular person involved in cheerleading, choir and drama. He said she joined the LDS Church after graduation from high school.
Shawn Winkler-Rios of Eugene said he was able to think of little else since King, his close friend, called him Wednesday morning.
``This is a loss beyond imagine to me,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``It's a tragedy with no answers. We want it to make sense. We're all fighting to understand, with nothing to go on.''
He said he loved McCoy's children as if their were his own and they had called him ``Uncle Shawn.''
``They were remarkable in every way, the kids that everybody wants,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``I was so looking forward to seeing their futures. They are gone, and nobody knows why.''
The bodies of McCoy, 33, and children Genevieve King, 12; Jordan King, 10; Chelsea King, 8; and Adrianna McCoy, 2, were found by McCoy's fiance, Dean Barney Jr., 25, when he came home from work around midnight Tuesday, police said.
Authorities are calling it a murder-suicide. A family friend, Walter Edward Schoolcraft, 48, a bachelor sharecropper, was found dead at another farm a couple of miles away. Investigators say it appears that Schoolcraft shot McCoy and her children, then drove to the farm where he worked and killed himself.
News of the murders spread quickly in the Eugene-Springfield area of Oregon. McCoy and her former husband, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael King, grew up there.
King, now of Seattle, is the father of the three oldest children. He said the father of the youngest child lives in Colorado.
King said he and McCoy met in high school and were friends before he joined the Air Force. When he came back from his first tour of duty in 1983, a romance kindled and the pair married a few months later in New Mexico, where King was stationed. Their three children were born there.
McCoy and the children returned to Springfield while King was on active duty in the Persian Gulf War. They moved to upstate New York and the couple divorced in 1992. McCoy moved to Gooding, Idaho, to be near her mother and stepfather, Allen and Lou Fox.
King said although his relationship with McCoy was difficult, both financially and emotionally, her com-mitment to the children never faltered.
``The kids were her mission in life, and she was out to succeed. She did a very good job,'' he said. ``Denise was almost what you would call pioneer stock. She was very hardy. She had a lot of stick-to-it-iveness.''
King said he had met McCoy's fiance, Barney, who also served in the Air Force, two years ago and described him as a very nice guy. ``Denise was a better person around him,'' he said.
When McCoy enrolled in college in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1994, she was a single mother with her youngest child still an infant. She was on welfare for a brief time and determined to get off.
Larry Farris of Springfield was a high school friend of McCoy. He remembered her as an outgoing, popular person involved in cheerleading, choir and drama. He said she joined the LDS Church after graduation from high school.
Shawn Winkler-Rios of Eugene said he was able to think of little else since King, his close friend, called him Wednesday morning.
``This is a loss beyond imagine to me,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``It's a tragedy with no answers. We want it to make sense. We're all fighting to understand, with nothing to go on.''
He said he loved McCoy's children as if their were his own and they had called him ``Uncle Shawn.''
``They were remarkable in every way, the kids that everybody wants,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``I was so looking forward to seeing their futures. They are gone, and nobody knows why.''
A memorial service is scheduled Saturday morning in Seattle's St. Mark's Episcopal Church for Denise McCoy and her four children, murder victims in a rural Idaho farming area.
The bodies of McCoy, 33, and children Genevieve King, 12; Jordan King, 10; Chelsea King, 8; and Adrianna McCoy, 2, were found by McCoy's fiance, Dean Barney Jr., 25, when he came home from work around midnight Tuesday, police said.
Authorities are calling it a murder-suicide. A family friend, Walter Edward Schoolcraft, 48, a bachelor sharecropper, was found dead at another farm a couple of miles away. Investigators say it appears that Schoolcraft shot McCoy and her children, then drove to the farm where he worked and killed himself.
News of the murders spread quickly in the Eugene-Springfield area of Oregon. McCoy and her former husband, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael King, grew up there.
King, now of Seattle, is the father of the three oldest children. He said the father of the youngest child lives in Colorado.
King said he and McCoy met in high school and were friends before he joined the Air Force. When he came back from his first tour of duty in 1983, a romance kindled and the pair married a few months later in New Mexico, where King was stationed. Their three children were born there.
McCoy and the children returned to Springfield while King was on active duty in the Persian Gulf War. They moved to upstate New York and the couple divorced in 1992. McCoy moved to Gooding, Idaho, to be near her mother and stepfather, Allen and Lou Fox.
King said although his relationship with McCoy was difficult, both financially and emotionally, her com-mitment to the children never faltered.
``The kids were her mission in life, and she was out to succeed. She did a very good job,'' he said. ``Denise was almost what you would call pioneer stock. She was very hardy. She had a lot of stick-to-it-iveness.''
King said he had met McCoy's fiance, Barney, who also served in the Air Force, two years ago and described him as a very nice guy. ``Denise was a better person around him,'' he said.
When McCoy enrolled in college in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1994, she was a single mother with her youngest child still an infant. She was on welfare for a brief time and determined to get off.
Larry Farris of Springfield was a high school friend of McCoy. He remembered her as an outgoing, popular person involved in cheerleading, choir and drama. He said she joined the LDS Church after graduation from high school.
Shawn Winkler-Rios of Eugene said he was able to think of little else since King, his close friend, called him Wednesday morning.
``This is a loss beyond imagine to me,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``It's a tragedy with no answers. We want it to make sense. We're all fighting to understand, with nothing to go on.''
He said he loved McCoy's children as if their were his own and they had called him ``Uncle Shawn.''
``They were remarkable in every way, the kids that everybody wants,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``I was so looking forward to seeing their futures. They are gone, and nobody knows why.''
The bodies of McCoy, 33, and children Genevieve King, 12; Jordan King, 10; Chelsea King, 8; and Adrianna McCoy, 2, were found by McCoy's fiance, Dean Barney Jr., 25, when he came home from work around midnight Tuesday, police said.
Authorities are calling it a murder-suicide. A family friend, Walter Edward Schoolcraft, 48, a bachelor sharecropper, was found dead at another farm a couple of miles away. Investigators say it appears that Schoolcraft shot McCoy and her children, then drove to the farm where he worked and killed himself.
News of the murders spread quickly in the Eugene-Springfield area of Oregon. McCoy and her former husband, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael King, grew up there.
King, now of Seattle, is the father of the three oldest children. He said the father of the youngest child lives in Colorado.
King said he and McCoy met in high school and were friends before he joined the Air Force. When he came back from his first tour of duty in 1983, a romance kindled and the pair married a few months later in New Mexico, where King was stationed. Their three children were born there.
McCoy and the children returned to Springfield while King was on active duty in the Persian Gulf War. They moved to upstate New York and the couple divorced in 1992. McCoy moved to Gooding, Idaho, to be near her mother and stepfather, Allen and Lou Fox.
King said although his relationship with McCoy was difficult, both financially and emotionally, her com-mitment to the children never faltered.
``The kids were her mission in life, and she was out to succeed. She did a very good job,'' he said. ``Denise was almost what you would call pioneer stock. She was very hardy. She had a lot of stick-to-it-iveness.''
King said he had met McCoy's fiance, Barney, who also served in the Air Force, two years ago and described him as a very nice guy. ``Denise was a better person around him,'' he said.
When McCoy enrolled in college in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1994, she was a single mother with her youngest child still an infant. She was on welfare for a brief time and determined to get off.
Larry Farris of Springfield was a high school friend of McCoy. He remembered her as an outgoing, popular person involved in cheerleading, choir and drama. He said she joined the LDS Church after graduation from high school.
Shawn Winkler-Rios of Eugene said he was able to think of little else since King, his close friend, called him Wednesday morning.
``This is a loss beyond imagine to me,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``It's a tragedy with no answers. We want it to make sense. We're all fighting to understand, with nothing to go on.''
He said he loved McCoy's children as if their were his own and they had called him ``Uncle Shawn.''
``They were remarkable in every way, the kids that everybody wants,'' Winkler-Rios said. ``I was so looking forward to seeing their futures. They are gone, and nobody knows why.''
Inscription
Beloved Grand Daughter
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
