On the afternoon of September 20, 2018, 8-year-old Eliza Kristine Orellana and her 11-year-old sister returned from school to their Gerrardstown, West Virginia home. Their mother, Julie Orellana, called them upstairs with a story about kittens being stuck under a bed and then opened fire once the girls were in the bedroom. The older sister, who was shot in the leg, escaped by jumping from an adjacent bedroom window and ran to a neighbor’s house for help.

Officers found Eliza on the living room floor with multiple gunshot and stab wounds to her chest, abdomen, neck, and back; she was pronounced dead at the scene. The older sister was taken to a hospital and was expected to recover. Julie Orellana fled in a white Honda SUV; the vehicle was later found abandoned. She was located and arrested the next morning and was found with a steak knife, a 9 mm pistol, and a six-page letter describing a plan to kill both daughters and then herself. She was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

Does anyone have information about the family, the neighborhood on Tall Pine Lane, or the events leading up to that afternoon?