Family is in shock after Saturday murder-suicide in Bristol, Va.

BRISTOL, Va. – There was already one body in the front yard when Washington County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at a little home on the

outskirts of Bristol, Va., early Saturday. Then they heard a single gunshot from inside the tidy double-wide trailer.
Twelve minutes earlier, a woman had called police, crying that her husband was trying to kill her at their home on Miller Hill Road, off

Gate City Highway just outside the city line. Deputies arrived at 2:23 a.m. to find Rebecca Ellen Clayman, 46, lying in the yard with

gunshot wounds to her face and chest.
After they heard the shot, they found her husband, Paul Dean Clayman, 47, in the bathroom with a single gunshot wound to the head and a

.38-caliber Special handgun nearby.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
“A domestic situation appears to be the motivating factor in the incident,” Sheriff Fred Newman said in a news statement. “Also, based on

the initial emergency call that came into our dispatch center, alcohol may have been a contributing factor in this tragic incident.”
Dozens of family members gathered at Becky Clayman’s father’s house, just next door to the home where the couple lived and died. Paul and

Becky Clayman, John S. Battle High School sweethearts, had two sons, 18 and 21 years old. The 18-year-old just started his freshman year at

University of Virginia College at Wise. The older brother lived at home with his parents while looking for work.
Relatives said they are all still in shock.
“It’s just like a story right now, something you hear about,” Becky Clayman’s niece, Carla Lilly, said while sitting on her granddaddy’s

front porch. “The worst is yet to come – when they bring the bodies back, when it all sinks in. And next week’s Thanksgiving.”
Lilly said every Thanksgiving, the 30-plus member extended family draws names for homemade Christmas gifts.
The Clayman home overlooks acres of farmland, with cows, pigs and ponies in clear view and guineas running across the lawn. Lilly said all

of the homes dotted along the horizon are relatives who live on land her grandfather, Becky Clayman’s father, has farmed for decades. Becky

Clayman lived on that land all of her life: When she and Paul Clayman married 21 years ago, they moved into a home just yards away from her

father’s house.
Becky Clayman was the second youngest of six children. They’re a close-knit family, Lilly said, and none of them ever imagined this could

happen.
The Claymans have been together “as long as anyone can remember.” Family said there was no indication of problems or violence in the

relationship and the pair had been making plans for the future: Paul Clayman, who worked for a trucking company, was putting together a

hunting trip, while Becky Clayman, a nursing assistant, was thinking about buying her husband a new dog.
Lilly described them as a fun, happy couple who liked to go camping, cook out and play board games.
Family said Paul Clayman was home watching a movie with his brother-in-law and Becky Clayman had gone out to the Fast Lane bar with some

friends.
Becky Clayman’s brother left before she got home.
“We’ll never know what happened after that,” said her sister-in-law, Diane Gilmer. “It’s going to leave more questions than we’ll ever find

answers. The end is already here, the questions are already here, but the answers will never come.” 
Becky Clayman’s father had triple bypass heart surgery just last week, and although his home shares a small yard with the couple’s, he heard

no shots and knew nothing until the morning.
The older son who lived with the Claymans was staying at a friend’s and came home early in the morning to pick up some things to go

hunting. He was stopped by cop cars and yellow tape around his house. The family drove to Wise on Saturday morning, got the younger brother

out of bed and broke the news to him.
“It’s hard on everybody, but especially hard on the boys,” Lilly said. “Those kids lost both their parents right here, in one night.”

| (276) 645-2531