Shovelful by shovelful, investigators sifted through the charred remnants of a Montana home where four generations of a family were killed as they gathered for Sunday dinner, searching for evidence that might help explain what happened and why.
Alan Smith, 44, killed his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and her children before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just after police arrived, authorities said. Multiple fires were set inside the suburban home on the outskirts of Billings. Smith had lived there before being asked to move out weeks earlier, according to accounts from police and surviving relatives.
