Authorities ID woman, 8-year-old son killed in Willits-area double murder-suicide

Project Sanctuary crisis counselors are available 24/7 for domestic violence victims in Mendocino County. Call 707-463-4357 (inland area) or 707-964-4357 (coastal area). The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-7233.

A man shot to death his young son and the boy’s mother before killing himself with the same rifle Thursday at an isolated, run-down property several miles northeast of Willits, Mendocino County authorities said Friday.

Sheriff’s officials said the gunman had been in a troubled relationship with the female victim, who returned several months ago with her son to the Willits area. The woman and boy lived on the property in the 5000 block of Hearst Willits Road where they were killed, sheriff’s officials said.

The victims were identified as Krissy Lynn Orbon, 32, originally from Michigan, and her 8-year-old son, Damian Michael Wilkins, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The gunman’s name has not been released because his family have not been notified, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“The romantic status between the mother and father was inconsistent and at the time of their deaths we believe they were not together,” Capt. Greg Van Patten of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said. “We think their relationship ended about a month ago.”

The Sheriff’s Office did not say how many shots had been fired in the slayings or where the victims were struck. All three bodies were found inside a house on the property.

The Sheriff’s Office had not had contact with either of the adults over the past eight years, and learned of their relationship from someone who knew them, Van Patten said.

“There is nothing documented with our office as far as prior domestic abuse reports dating back to 2011 but that does not mean other jurisdictions did not know something about this couple,” Van Patten said.

The property, located 4 miles outside Willits city limits, is in a lightly populated rural area with locked gates on most driveways. Many homes are not visible from the road.

A neighbor said he was casually acquainted with the owner of the property where the slayings occurred as well as with a man who he believed was the boy’s father. He was a large man with tattoos, said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified.

“You could tell he had a little bit of a partying past,” he said, adding the man “seemed to be more tweaker than pothead.”

Authorities said the gunman did not live with Orbon and Wilkins at the time of the slaying but frequently came to visit his son.

The 1,000-square-foot home where the bodies were found is surrounded by trailers parked on the property, Van Patten said. The property owner was a close friend of Orbon’s, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies said they received a call from a neighbor on Thursday afternoon who had looked through a window of the victims’ home and saw a large amount of blood inside on the floor.

The rifle used in the killings, a .22-caliber, was believed to be stolen during a recent burglary of a neighbor’s house, Van Patten said.

Properties in the area are involved in the cannabis trade, Van Patten said, but he said the murders appeared to be an isolated case of domestic violence without any known connection to the drug trade.

The lack of any previous reports in Mendocino County calling attention to the gunman or his victims did not surprise authorities.