"It's Just Like A Story"

"BRISTOL, VA – There was already one body in the front yard when Washington County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at a little home on the outskirts of Bristol, Va., early Saturday.

"Then they heard a single gunshot from inside the tidy double-wide trailer.

"Twelve minutes earlier, a woman had called police, crying that her husband was trying to kill her at their home on Miller Hill Road, off Gate City Highway just outside the city line. Deputies arrived at 2:23 a.m. to find Rebecca Ellen Clayman, 46, lying in the yard with gunshot wounds to her face and chest.

"After they heard the shot, they found her husband, Paul Dean Clayman, 47, in the bathroom with a single gunshot wound to the head and a .38-caliber Special handgun nearby.

"Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

"`A domestic situation appears to be the motivating factor in the incident,` Sheriff Fred Newman said in a news statement. `Also, based on the initial emergency call that came into our dispatch center, alcohol may have been a contributing factor in this tragic incident.`

"Dozens of family members gathered at Becky Clayman’s father’s house, just next door to the home where the couple lived and died. Paul and Becky Clayman, John S. Battle High School sweethearts, had two sons, 18 and 21 years old. The 18-year-old just started his freshman year at University of Virginia College at Wise. The older brother lived at home with his parents while looking for work.

"Relatives said they are all still in shock.

"`It’s just like a story right now, something you hear about,` Becky Clayman’s niece, Carla Lilly, said while sitting on her granddaddy’s front porch. `The worst is yet to come – when they bring the bodies back, when it all sinks in. And next week’s Thanksgiving.`"

From TriCities.com...