DEER LODGE, Mont. (AP) – Augustine “Mike” Bournes carried an anti-government streak that was the product of a run-in with the law 20 years ago, leading him to build an off-the-grid cabin for his family in remote, southwestern Montana, miles away from any neighbors.
His wife, Arie Arlynn Lee, was more sociable and was trying to become involved with the community, even though it meant a 45-minute drive into town over a rough dirt road from their home in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
Their two boys, 5-year-old Augustine and 4-year-old Woodrow, played youth sports, and Lee doted over their 1-year-old daughter, Arie.
A portrait of the family began to emerge in the days following Sunday morning’s murder-suicide that left all five dead. Police said they believe comments by Lee mocking Bournes set him off, and he shot her and their three children in the head with a .45 caliber handgun before setting fire to the cabin.
He then lay down next to his children’s bodies, which he had lined up together on a bed, and shot himself, Anaconda-Deer Lodge Police Chief Tim Barkell said.