Man Apparently Kills 5, Then Self By Michael Fleeman Associated Press

An aerospace worker apparently killed five friends and relatives at his home, then drove to a freeway overpass and jumped to his death.

The bludgeoned bodies of two men, two women and a young girl were found Sunday scattered throughout Ronald Taylor’s home by sheriff’s detectives who went there to notify relatives of his death. They got the address from Taylor’s driver’s license.

“This is a murder-suicide,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy William Martin, “and (Taylor) is indeed the suspect in the case.”

The victims were Taylor’s wife, Ruthie, 40; son Rick Taylor, 24; sister-in-law Mylissa Campbell, 29; niece Jolissa Morales, 6; and Tomy Kang Jung, 24, a family friend.

The causes of death weren’t released, but Martin said, “There is some trauma, there is some blood.”

Authorities declined to discuss a possible motive.

Taylor, 46, worked for McDonnell Douglas for 16 years as a handformer, according to court documents. A spokeswoman for the company, now owned by Boeing, said she didn’t know what a handformer did.

His wife, Ruthie, worked as a manager at a chiropractor’s office.

Friends and neighbors described the Taylors as a loving couple and good neighbors in this city 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Court records show Taylor had suffered financial problems, seeking bankruptcy protection in April 1997 after running up debts of more than $64,000, including a $21,302 personal loan from McDonnell Douglas and a $5,547 Sears credit card.

But that case was resolved just four months later, the records showed.

Jean LaCarte, the Realtor who handled the sale of the Taylors’ $220,000 home, said they had moved to get away from a rougher neighborhood. Taylor was forced into foreclosure on the home in 1996, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

LaCarte drove to the four-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac when she heard about the deaths.

“I was hoping it wasn’t them,” she said. “They were so happy in the home.”

A pair of tricycles were in the front yard of the ranch-style house Monday.

Sunday evening, Taylor jumped off a bridge on the Artesia Freeway onto the San Gabriel River Freeway in Cerritos. He died at a hospital less than three hours later, deputies said.