Killings, suicide baffle authorities

SAUGUS -- In the short time neighbors on Saugus Avenue knew David G. Rayburn, the only surefire thing they knew about the unemployed veteran was that he was a Patriots fan.

The burly and bald Rayburn was often decked out in Patriots gear, and he told neighbors that he attended the Patriots playoff game against the Tennessee Titans. On Sunday, Rayburn and his family hosted a Super Bowl party at their house. It was a quiet evening on the narrow dead-end street, some neighbors said. Twenty-four hours later, Saugus police said, Rayburn took a hammer and killed his wife and stepson as they slept. Police called it a vicious and baffling murder-suicide.

After leaving a brief suicide note on the kitchen table, police said, Rayburn, 34, went to the basement and hanged himself with a nylon rope.

The bodies were discovered Tuesday night when Rayburn's stepdaughter, Jennifer M. Berry, went to the house after her mother did not meet her earlier in the day.

Neighbors said Berry, who lives in Lynn, ran out of the house around 8 p.m. screaming, "My mother, my mother," before collapsing nearby.

Police said Linda M. Rayburn, 44, and Michael E. Berry, 23, her son from a previous marriage, were found in beds in adjacent bedrooms. Neither appeared to have struggled before they died, an indication they were asleep at the time of the attacks, police said.

Joel Berry, Michael and Jennifer's father, would not comment last night when reached by phone.

Linda Rayburn listed her husband's occupation as Internet technician on a town survey she filled out on Jan. 16, though police said Rayburn, a 1988 graduate of Hingham High School, had been unemployed and was seeking work. The couple had been living in an affordable housing complex in East Boston prior to moving to Saugus six months ago, according to management at the complex.They and Michael Berry moved into the gray duplex owned by Linda's cousin, Lucille Polito, in August after the couple had fallen on hard times, neighbors said. Polito could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Despite the brief suicide note, investigators said they were puzzled about the motive behind the three deaths. They said they want to interview relatives and friends, including those who attended Sunday's party. Police said there were no restraining orders taken out by anyone at the house, no calls to police, and no trouble.

"There's no history at all," said Police Chief James. J. MacKay. "Nothing has been reported to us, from the courts or from the neighbors there."

MacKay said the suicide note made no mention of financial troubles.

"Yes, we certainly are puzzled," MacKay said. "There's no indication as to what motivated this person to commit these murders."

Neighbors were equally stunned. "They're just quiet, quiet people," said Rosa Freni, who lives across the street from the duplex.

Ray Coakley, who lives next door, said the most contact neighbors had with David Rayburn was "a friendly wave, a friendly hello."

"Everything seemed really normal over there," he said. "To think that it was happening while we were here. . . . There was no noise, nothing."

Across the street, neighbor Frank Morrissey said the Rayburns were often grilling on their side porch.

"You never ever thought there was an issue over there," he said. "No slamming of doors, no yelling, no screeching tires. Nothing. But no one knew them. I guarantee, no one knew them."

Management at Brandywyne Village in East Boston said that the Rayburns left the complex in August in good standing and that there were no troubles reported while they were there. Boston voting records indicate that all four members of the family -- David and Linda Rayburn and her children -- lived in the apartment at the time.