Illinois town (Beason) on edge after 5 family members slain

[September 23, 2009]  BEASON (AP) -- Residents of a tiny central Illinois farming town where three children and their parents were slain in their home anxiously awaited any word to settle their nerves after authorities warned them to lock their doors and be alert.

"Now I have my 9 mm loaded, cocked and ready to fire if someone breaks into my house," Dale Day, who lives a few blocks from the home in Beason where the family's bodies were discovered, said Tuesday.

Police cars blocked off the street from a nearby highway to just past the home-turned-crime scene. Logan County Sheriff Steven Nichols said investigators were following leads but no arrests had been made or suspects identified.

Nichols called the killings the "brutal homicide of an entire family," but declined to provide details about how the family died. Autopsies were to be conducted Tuesday, but no results were immediately released.

The sheriff identified the victims and gave approximate ages: Raymond "Rick" Gee, 46; Ruth Gee, 39; Justina Constant, 16; Dillen Constant, 14; and Austin Gee, 11. A 3-year-old girl survived the attack and was taken to a hospital in Peoria, he said.

The girl's grandmother identified her as the couple's daughter, Tabitha Gee.

Authorities discovered the bodies at the family's ranch-style house Monday afternoon after responding to a 911 call about possible shots fired at the address, Nichols said. He did not say why authorities did not notify the public until Tuesday, then advised them to secure their homes.

The few hundred residents of Beason, about 140 miles southwest of Chicago, were left to gather on their porches and think about their town in a way they never had.

"Not many people lock their doors here," said Brittney Fillmore, 14, who knew both Justina and Dillen from high school.

"Everybody always got along, neighbor helped neighbor," said 76-year-old Betty Poston, who moved to Beason at age 10.

Adding to the unease was the victims' reputation with townspeople and relatives as quiet and well-liked.

"They were ... very kind and never had a bad word to say about anybody," said Frances Constant, Ruth Gee's mother, who lives in nearby Lincoln.

Raymond Gee hustled for work in construction and as a handyman while his wife, a stay-at-home mom, helped out whenever she could, Constant said.

The couple faced their share of hardships, including having an 11-year-old daughter who suffered a brain injury so severe she has to live at a special facility in Peoria. Rick Gee's adult daughter also lives in Beason.

Dillen was "that ornery kid we all loved," said Angela Pitts, whose kids played with him and his siblings, and whose invitation Justina and Austin took to join a Bible club last summer before beginning to attend Park Meadows Baptist Church in Lincoln. Austin was a homebody but liked attending services with his sister.

About 70 people crowded into a small Methodist church Tuesday to remember the family. The Rev. Dayle Badman tried to offer comfort, particularly to the 30 or so children among them.

"Just think of this family as up in heaven having fun, doing the things that make them happy," Badman said. "They don't want you to be burdened by fear, they don't want you to be burdened by pain."

[Associated Press; By JOHN O'CONNOR]

Associated Press writers Christopher Wills in Lincoln and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

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