Four people are dead in two separate homicide investigations in the North Country, including one suspect who was shot and killed by police last Friday.
According to a report from NY State Troopers, a homeowner in the rural Lewis County town of Diana reported a trespasser who had a gun on their property last Friday evening.
As police were responding, they came across a car that had been burned and contained the remains of a deceased individual. A second burned vehicle was later found nearby, also containing the remains of another deceased person.
Police formed a perimeter around a home on Alpine Road in Diana, where they found the suspect, 47-year-old Victor L. Craighead of Harrisville. He allegedly came out of the home with a long gun and fired at police.
An officer returned fire and struck Craighead, who was later pronounced dead.
The two victims found in the burned vehicles have been sent to a medical examiner's office to be identified.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, police in Clinton County responded to a report of an unresponsive man in his apartment in Rouses Point. Tyrone Biggs, age 57, was pronounced dead and taken to Glens Falls for an autopsy.
The autopsy report on Sunday revealed that Biggs died due to "severe hemorrhage resulting from a stab wound to the neck."
Police allege that Austin Lapier, age 31, of Rouses Point, stabbed Biggs on Friday evening. Lapier was taken into custody and charged with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
He is being held in the Clinton County Jail without bail.
