Five Dead and Town Warned to Lock Its Doors

Sept. 22, 2009— -- Police issued a warning today in a small central Illinois town that whoever slaughtered a family of five was on the loose and extremely dangerous.

"I think people do need to lock their doors and take precautions," Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols said today at a news conference according to the Bloomington Pantagraph. "Until we find this person, we consider them armed and dangerous."

Found dead in the family massacre were Raymond and Ruth Gee, approximately 46 and 39 years old, and their three children ages 11 to 16. Their youngest, 3-year-old Tabitha, survived the attack in the family's Beason, Ill., home and was taken to a hospital.

Police have called the Gee family murders a "brutal homicide."

Beason Postmaster Jodie Duncan, who knew the older children well, said no one in this tiny town of 300 knows what to think at this point.

"They're on edge," she said of the town's residents. "I think until the community gets more information as to what's going on, they're on edge."

Rural mail carrier Harry David Edwards, who has delivered mail to the town's residents for more than 30 years, told ABCNews.com that he had heard it was one of the children's grandfathers who found the bodies Monday afternoon after not being able to reach the family.

"To take out kids and the whole family like that," he said, "I don't know."

Police said the bodies were found around 4:30 p.m. Monday after receiving a 911 call about a possible shooting at their 2150th Avenue home.

The children were identified as Justina Constant, 16, Dillon Constant, 14 and Austin Gee, 11.

"They were all good kids," Edwards said.