Six homicides, two West Michigan communities ask: Why?
Flowers and pictures help make up a memorial outside the house in Wright where four people were killed before a fire was set.
In the span of a week, six homicides left two small communities reeling. In tiny Wright, residents who rarely questioned their safety are jumpy about the unsolved slayings of four people. Meanwhile, two men were charged with killing a Howard City couple as a town mourns.
In Wright, a rural area known for apple orchards and farming -- where some homeowners still leave their houses and cars unlocked at night -- some residents say the mystery surrounding the Sept. 29 killings of Sharmaine Zimmer; her sons, Jeremy and Tyler; and Katherine Brown has them on edge. Others are less concerned and assume the killings were some type of targeted execution.
About 34 miles away, the abduction and killing of Norma and Robert Bean on Monday have shaken Howard City, where the Beans, both 66, owned a trucking company, R. Bean & Son Transportation, and were active in charitable causes and their church. Everyone in town seems to have a connection to the couple, their company, their children or grandchildren. Police have charged two men in the killings of the Howard City couple.
