Six found slain in Ohio homes
Three adults and three youths killed in neighboring houses
(CNN) -- Three adults and three youths were found shot to death Sunday morning in two neighboring houses in a rural area outside Bellefontaine, Ohio, authorities said.
The deaths appeared to be multiple murders and a suicide, authorities said. A rifle was found at one of the houses, said Logan County Sheriff Michael Henry.
A 15-year-old girl survived with a gunshot wound to the neck and managed to make a call on a cell phone to a friend who contacted deputies, Henry said.
Bellefontaine is about 45 miles northwest of Columbus. The survivor, Stacy Moody, was in critical condition at the Ohio State University hospital there.
Henry would not identify which of the dead was believed to have been the killer.
"A lot of us here knew the victims, and the families, so it's tough," he said.
Deputies found four bodies and the survivor at one house when they investigated the report from the girl's friend at 10:47 a.m., Henry said.
Soon after, they found two more bodies at the other house about a half-mile away.
Logan identified the victims in the first house as Paige Harshbarger, 14; Sheri Schafer, 37; Megan Karus, 19; and Scott Moody, 18.
In the second house, investigators found the bodies of Sharyl Schafer, 66, and Gary Schafer, 67.
Henry did not disclose the relationships of victims to one another, at least one of whom was scheduled to graduate from high school Sunday.
"We have a lot of work to do at two crime scenes to put the facts together -- and when we get those facts, you'll have them," he said. "But right now, we don't have them all yet."
Henry said deputies had records of 10 "nuisance-type" calls at the residence where the first four bodies were found, but none involving complaints of violence.
A neighbor, Iris Angle, said the slayings were inexplicable.
"Such a shock -- very nice people, nice neighbors," she said. "I just can't imagine what they're going through."
