GUILTY MI - Debra Sheppard, 33, & 2 kids murdered in their Dorr home, 9 March 2015

A Dorr Township man allegedly told others that he shot and killed his girlfriend and her two children, then returned hours later to set her mobile home on fire...

Dorr Township firefighters and Allegan County sheriff's deputies on Tuesday afternoon found the bodies of Debra Sheppard and children Corey LaValley Jr. and Emma McComber in the burned-out mobile home.

A detective, while swearing to a warrant on Thursday, March 12, said a preliminary autopsy showed that all three victims have injuries consistent with gunshot wounds.

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William McComber, 36, cried softly on Wednesday, March 11, as he spoke of petitioning the courts multiple times over the past seven years for physical custody of his daughter.

In weekend visits with McComber, his 12-year-old daughter, Emma McComber, told him Corey LaValley had hit her and her two half-brothers several times and was physically abusive toward the children's mother. His daughter told him that LaValley would "lock all the doors" in the couple's home and "walk around with guns"...

Both Emma and Corey Jr. excelled in school. Corey, a fifth-grader, had an interest in sharks and marine life and Emma was doing well in advanced math. They were smart kids who worked hard and had good hearts, Bronold said. "I never, ever, ever expected this."

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Ruth Lester wanted to watch for herself whether Corey LaValley, accused of killing her friend and her friend's two children, showed any grief in court... "I just wanted to see if he had any remorse on his face, but I see he did not," said Lester, who has been a neighbor of Debra Sheppard for about a year.

An Allegan County magistrate ordered LaValley held without bond on three counts of murder, a count of second-degree arson and felony firearms.

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The office of the Ombudsman is reportedly investigating claims made by Will McComber, the father of the teenaged girl who was killed, that he has been trying for six years to convince state family court officials that abuse was a regular feature of life with Corey Lavalley...

Miller says there has been some intervention in the past two years.

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OkieGranny said:

http://wincountry.com/news/articles/2015/mar/13/dorr-triple-murder-triggers-probe-of-dhs-response/

The office of the Ombudsman is reportedly investigating claims made by Will McComber, the father of the teenaged girl who was killed, that he has been trying for six years to convince state family court officials that abuse was a regular feature of life with Corey Lavalley...

Miller says there has been some intervention in the past two years.

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A funeral is planned for a woman and her two children who were fatally shot before their western Michigan home was set ablaze.

The service for 33-year-old Debra Sheppard; her 12-year-old daughter, Emma McComber; and 10-year-old son, Corey LaValley Jr., is Wednesday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Rapids.

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Corey LaValley Sr., who pleaded no contest to murdering his girlfriend and two of her children, one of whom was his own, and then setting their house on fire was sentenced Monday, Feb. 29, to at least 55 years in prison.

LaValley, who pleaded in January to three counts of second-degree murder, was given 55 years to life in prison for the shooting deaths of Deb Sheppard, and her two children, Emma McComber, 12, and Corey LaValley Jr., 10.

He was sentenced by Allegan County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker.

LaValley Sr. will first be eligible for parole in 2071.

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The crimes were "unspeakable," Edine Bronold told a judge.

She lost her daughter, Debra Sheppard, 33, and grandchildren, Emma McComber, 12, and Corey LaValley Jr., 10.

Bronold said she had treated him like family, letting him live with her for time, and invited him to holiday gatherings, including Christmas.

The betrayal crushed her.

"This was premeditated, planned and executed," she said.

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Allegan County Circuit Judge Margaret Zuzich-Bakker said LaValley told a pre-sentence investigator that he loved his family and the "tragedy breaks his heart" but she said he has not shown remorse.

"That's a pretty obtuse statement for somebody who shoots people in the head - shot his own son in the head," the judge said.

"I hope and pray they were all asleep when this happened. I can't imagine the horror of seeing (a loved one) pointing a weapon at their face and shooting. You have committed the ultimate act of power control."

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