Illinois Mom Wakes to House Fire That Masked a Horror

An Illinois mother of two woke to the sound of her smoke alarm going off in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. But Pamela Ringenberg couldn't find her phone to call 911—nor could she find her husband and two young sons. The Bloomington Police Department says there was a horrific reason why. The home's surveillance cameras captured the events that occurred as the woman slept, reports People: Police say Eric Ringenberg, 33, hid the family's phones in a kitchen cabinet and took his 2-year-old and newborn to the home's basement, where he strangled them. Ringenberg then set the home on fire and hanged himself.

The Herald & Review reports Pamela Ringenberg, 32, eventually fled the house having been unable to find her family and sought help from a neighbor. Firefighters were on the scene shortly after 3am. Pamela Ringenberg, who along with her husband worked for Bloomington-based State Farm, has been treated for smoke inhalation. (More murder-suicide stories.)