Oreanna Myers: West Virginia mom who shot five kids in head and burned bodies was obsessed with witchcraft
The West Virginia mom who allegedly killed five children and herself in a horrific murder-suicide was reportedly deep into witchcraft, occult practices, and performing strange rituals. The stepmother of two of the children killed spoke to The Sun, which also got in touch with a local law enforcement officer. Raven Bumgarner, 27, the biological mother of victims 7-year-old Shaun and 6-year-old Riley — claimed Myers had a "bizarre" obsession with spiritualism, witchcraft, and indulged in occult practices such as keeping dead insects in jars.
MEAWW previously reported how 25-year-old Oreanna Myers is said to have murdered the children with a shotgun, set fire to their farmhouse, and then fatally shot herself on December 8. Among the five children, three were hers and two were her stepchildren. “She was into witchcraft. She would post things on her Facebook and Instagram,” Bumgarner told The Sun. “She was always talking about the phases of the moon and these rituals and tarot cards and different books and witchy things."
“She was like, ‘oh this moon is in this phase, this is a ritual for new beginnings, I’m going to go and run naked in the fields," Bumgarner continued. “She had a glass jar together that she had for Brian with some of her crystals, and she collected dead butterflies. She had them in jars.” An Instagram account linked to Myers contained several images about spirituality as well as jars containing dead insects.
According to the newspaper, Myers left multiple letters for her family in which she apparently confessed to killing the children. “This is no one’s fault but my own. My demons won over me,” one of the letters read. “Sorry, I wasn’t strong enough.” The letters also raised concerns about Myers' mental health at the time of the killings. Brian, her husband, had reportedly been staying at his father's residence to be closer to work as their family car had broken down. Text messages obtained by the newspaper suggested Brian's absence was a source of stress on the marriage.
“You’ll have nothing to come back to but to corpse [sic]," Myers reportedly wrote to Brian before killing the children. "No one cares why should I? Money will come and go, once I go there’s no replacing me. I beg and cry for help but never get it. It’s my mental health that needs tending to — help me — I do not care anymore.” She texted Brian after the murders, per the outlet.
“I’m so sorry Brian. I was not strong enough for you or this family. My head is so (expletive)," she wrote. “I’m sorry for my evil crime. I was not strong enough to fight these demons, Snap. Crunch, Boom. So depressed. Heart numb. Soul completely shattered. I am sorry I failed you. I am sorry I failed our handsome boys. I am so sorry I was not strong enough. OAM.”
Myers' unusual interests were confirmed to the newspaper by Greenbrier County Sheriff Bruce Sloan. “There was history that Oreanna was involved in some occult practices, witchcraft, and spiritualism, contacting the dead,” Sloan told The Sun. “It’s not normal. Is it unheard of? No,” he said, but insisted he did not believe the murders were part of any ritualistic killing.
Sloan told The Sun that the medical examiner's office could take up to a year to review the deaths. The children's bodies are yet to be provided to the families for funeral services, but Bumgarner told the newspaper she believes a cremation will be necessary. “Right now, there really isn’t anything left [of the children’s bodies] so I just figured we are going to cremate them and have urns picked out,” Bumgarner told The Sun.
The devastated mother told the newspaper that she felt like her soul had been "ripped out." “How could you do that to children? They had full lives ahead of them,” Bumgarner said. “I feel she was of complete sound mind. She didn’t write me a letter, she was selfish and she wanted to hurt people. This was planned, and I can’t get my boys back. She murdered my babies.”
Bumgarner still has a 3-year-old girl from a previous relationship. “It’s hard. It really is hard. I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have my daughter,” Bumgarner told The Sun.