Ohio woman who watched husband kill her sisters and himself, dies of cancer

(CBS/WBNS/AP) LOGAN, Ohio - The terminally ill woman who watched her husband kill his son, her two sisters, and himself last week, has died.

CBS affiliate WBNS reports that Darlene Gilkey succumbed to cancer on Saturday.

Gilkey's husband, Paul David Gilkey, 63, shot his son, Leroy Gilkey, 38, and his sisters-in-law, Barbara Mohler, 70, and Dorothy Cherry, 63, then shot himself on January 9.

Darlene Gilkey witnessed the massacre from her home hospital bed but was not injured. Her husband reportedly shot the family after an argument over feeding his ailing wife. After the shootings, Gilkey was taken to a medical facility.

Darlene and Paul Gilkey had reportedly divorced over the past several decades.

State records show that Paul Gilkey was convicted of murder in 1974 for using a fence post to beat Eldon Hardy, 53, to death at his home. He entered the Ohio prison system in Nov. 1974 and was released in Aug. 1988.

"He was under a lot of pressure," said his brother Keith Gilkey.

Keith said his brother didn't speak to his son anymore, but that the son was there because of his wife's illness.

After killing his family, Paul Gilkey reportedly holed up in the room where his wife lay dying, while police waited outside the home for several hours. Gilkey eventually turned the gun on himself when they threatened to come inside.

Darlene Gilkey's son from another marriage was also inside, but escaped the shooting. Police said it was the stepson who had called the sheriff's office and that Paul Gilkey had let him leave "because he had kids."

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