York, PA - He's spent decades as a law enforcement officer and death investigator, yet York County Coroner Barry Bloss still doesn't know what causes some people to kill family members and then themselves.
"I just don't know why," he said. "I wish I had the answers. . . . Some of this stuff is beyond my comprehension."
Still, years of cases have yielded similarities that Bloss has noticed: Most have been perpetrated by men -- usually against women -- and occur in the home.
The men's weapon of choice is usually a gun and, most often, the deaths are the culmination of problems within the relationship, he said.
The pattern Bloss has noticed applies in the double-murder-suicide that occurred last Sunday in Manheim Township.
Gary Lee Bynaker, 57, shot his wife, Tammy, 52, and their son, Benjamin, 17, inside their home, then killed himself. Southwestern Regional Police Chief Greg Bean said the couple had been having marital problems.
That's a man killing a woman, though this case also involved a child, with a gun in their home after relationship problems -- the characteristics Bloss noted. In fact, those characteristics parallel research on a national scale.
The Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, conducts the largest analysis of murder-suicides and began doing so several years ago when no other comprehensive study existed.
Because of time and financial constraints, the center conducts its studies in 6-month timeframes.
In its most-recent study, 2008's "American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States," Pennsylvania was among nine states that had 10 or more murder-suicides in the first six months of the study. The state ranked fourth, with 14 cases.
Ninety-five percent of the murder-suicides were committed by men, and 45 of the homicide victims were children and teens younger than 18.
A more recent study, generated by news clippings and conducted by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, found there were 14 murder-suicides in the state in 2010; none were in York County.
Since 2003, there have been 11 murder-suicides involving York County residents, with a total of 24 people dead. Nine of those occurred in York County, and two were double-murder-suicides.
Ellen Kramer, legal director for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said patterns tend to exist in what occurs before murder-suicides.
"What we know from research is that there is often a prior history of domestic violence," she said.
Violence Policy Center research has shown domestic violence is present in the overwhelming majority of murder-suicides in the U.S.
It also found that murder-suicides involving intimate partners most commonly occur when one person attempts to leave or end the relationship.
Domestic violence was a documented factor in the 2006 deaths of Clayton Sellers and Kelly Drayden. Sellers, 23, of Bronx, N.Y., shot and killed Drayden, 23, of York inside her car at North Belvidere Avenue and Lincoln Street on March 14, 2006.
The couple, who had a 1-year-old daughter, were supposed to be on their way to the courthouse for a hearing. Sellers had been charged with simple assault because, court documents state, Sellers punched Drayden so hard during a party in Dover Township that she nearly passed out.
Sellers was to have no contact with Drayden.
Another local case in which domestic violence was documented was that of Joseph Brenner and Jennifer Kruszynski, who died in January 2007.
Brenner, 41, beat his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Kruszynski, 36, of Dallastown to death with a gun inside his pickup somewhere between her home and Penn Township, western York County, on Jan. 10. Kruszynski's body was found nine days later in a wooded area of Penn Township.
Brenner shot himself Jan. 12 or 13 in a wooded area of Mount Pleasant Township, Adams County, behind his ex-wife's home.
Brenner, who had a criminal history of violence against women, told his son that Kruszynski had ruined his life because she had him arrested for trespassing after he broke into her home while he was on parole.
A multipronged approach is necessary to dealing with the issue of domestic violence, experts said.
"People view it as some isolated, random act, when there are clear patterns that can point toward effective prevention strategies," said the Violence Policy Center's Kristen Rand.
Those prevention strategies include shelters for victims, anger-management courses and the coordination of removing firearms from the home when it has been determined that they might be used, Rand said.
Kramer said the state continues to work closely with local law enforcement and health professionals to train them on how to spot signs of domestic violence and refer victims to the right resources.
Bloss' recommendation to those who find themselves in an abusive relationship is straightforward.
"If you are living in a situation that you feel threatened or unsafe, get out and seek help," he said.
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But in the eight other murder-suicide cases that have involved York County residents since 2003, a history of domestic violence was never firmly established.
Kramer also cited research conducted by Johns Hopkins University scholar Jackie Campbell, who concluded that murder-suicides can be the result of a man experiencing humiliation from a job loss, a divorce or financial problems.
One local murder-suicide from late 2008 could fall into this category.
On Nov. 3, 2008, John D. Goodman, 39, shot and killed his wife, Julia, 39, and their son, Langon, 2, inside their Spring Garden Township home.
Investigators said they will never know for sure what precipitated the killings but said John Goodman had been distraught over recently losing his job as a surveyor.
In other cases, investigators have suggested that health problems -- possibly viewed as insurmountable by the shooter -- may have been a contributing factor in some of the county's murder-suicides.
On Aug. 4, 2009, retired police Sgt. Kenneth R. Miller, 70, shot and killed his wife, Bonnie, 68, inside their Springettsbury Township home. Miller had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's about a year before, police said.
On June 23, 2009, David Stoner, 54, shot and killed his mentally challenged sister, Kathy Stoner, 49, inside their York Township apartment. Stoner had lost his job as a mechanic a year before and was clearly deeply depressed, neighbors said.
And on Dec. 15, 2009, Bruce Landis, 80, shot his wife, Helen, 80, inside their Fairview Township home. Landis was suffering from dementia and possibly Alzheimer's, family members said.
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Another type of individual may find himself overwhelmed by jealousy and be overly possessive of his girlfriend or wife, Kramer said. And that possession only elevates in response to any resistance.
"Sometimes, there's just this revenge: 'If I can't have you, nobody else will,'" she said.
The suicide that follows may be the perpetrator deciding not to accept the consequences of the murder he has just committed, she said.
And the irrational justification behind killing a child can sometimes be "ending her (the wife or girlfriend's) life and all those things that are close to her," Kramer said.
On July 6, 2003, Robert Young, 60, shot his estranged girlfriend, Kelly Sayers, 36, of Cecil County, Maryland, inside his Chanceford Township home when Sayers returned to pick up some of her belongings.
That couple had recently ended a seven-year relationship, neighbors said.
In June of this year, Melissa Harris, 43, of York, shot and killed Lisa Goss, 46, at Goss' townhouse in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County. Harris then tried to kill Goss' 17-year-old son before killing herself.
Harris and Goss had been in a relationship for more than a year, but Harris had moved out of Goss' home about two months before the killings, police said.
The Harris-Goss case is the only local one involving a female shooter, a fact an East Pennsboro Township official noted shortly after the killings.
"We don't see this kind of crime too often, a murder-suicide involving two women," township police Chief Todd Bashore said.
Do you need help?
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
YWCA's ACCESS-York has planned several events this month, including partnering with The School of Culinary Arts to host a series of four-course dinners and distributing purple ribbons attached to cards with their hotline numbers.
If you are in an abusive relationship and need help, you can call 846-5400, 637-2235 or 800-262-8444.
Rick Azzaro, chief services officer for the York YWCA's ACCESS-York and Victim Assistance Center, stressed that the hotlines are available not just this month, but all of the time.
Local cases
Since 2003, there have been 11 murder-suicides involving York County residents. Nine occurred in York County; 24 people have died.
--- On Oct. 9, Gary Lee Bynaker, 57, shot and killed his wife, Tammy, 52, and their son, Ben, 17, inside their Manheim Township home.
--- In June, Melissa Harris, 43, of York, shot and killed Lisa Goss, 46, at Goss' townhouse in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County. Harris then tried to kill Goss' 17-year-old son before killing herself.
--- In December 2009, 80-year-old Bruce Landis shot and killed his wife, Helen, in their Fairview Township home, then killed himself in the home's backyard.
--- In August 2009, Kenneth Miller, 70, shot and killed his wife, Bonnie, 68, then killed himself inside their Springettsbury Township home.
--- In June 2009, David Stoner shot and killed his sister, Kathy, then killed himself inside their York Township apartment.
--- In November 2008, John Goodman, 39, killed his wife, Julia, 39, and their 2-year-old son, Langon, inside their Spring Garden Township home.
--- In January 2007, Joseph Brenner, 41, beat his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Kruszynski, 36, of Dallastown to death inside his pickup truck somewhere between her home and Penn Township, western York County. Brenner shot himself Jan. 12 or 13 in a wooded area of Mount Pleasant Township, Adams County, behind his ex-wife's home.
--- In November 2006, Morris Keith Lyons, 52, of Parkville, Md., shot Harold W. Creech, 59, of New Freedom at BD Diagnostic Systems in Sparks, Md. Creech was Lyons' boss, police said.
--- In March 2006, Clayton Sellers, 23, shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Kelly Drayden, 23, then himself inside Kelly's car in York.
--- In July 2003, Robert Young, 60, shot his estranged girlfriend, Kelly Sayers, 36, of Cecil County, Maryland, inside his home on Stamper Road, Chanceford Township.
--- In April 2003, James Sheets, 14, shot and killed Principal Eugene Segro, then himself, in front of a crowded cafeteria inside Red Lion Area Junior High.
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