'Spam King' one of 3 dead in apparent murder-suicide

BENNETT - The man who escaped from a federal prison in Florence after being convicted for sending spam e-mail killed his wife and one of their children before killing himself in an apparent murder-suicide on Thursday.

Eddie Davidson, 35, was serving a 21-month sentence for illegally sending spam over the Internet and escaped from a minimum security prison in Florence on July 20.

9Wants to Know learned Davidson was involved earlier on Thursday and the U.S. Attorney's office confirmed it again on Thursday evening.

At around 11:15 a.m. Thursday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department received a report of shots fired in the area of East Arkansas Place, at Davidson's former home.

Around the same time, according to the sheriff's department, a female teenager arrived at a neighbor's house with a gunshot wound to the neck. She was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

When sheriff's deputies arrived at the house, located in the 43000 block of East Arkansas Place, they found a dead woman and a dead man lying next to a silver Toyota Sequoia in the driveway. They also found a dead 3-year-old girl inside the SUV.

The U.S. Attorney's office says the man, Davidson, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The U.S. Attorney's office says Davidson's wife, Amy Hill, and their 3-year-old daughter were the other two who were killed and they both died from gunshot wounds.

Their infant son, about 7 to 8 months old, was found unharmed inside the back of the SUV still in a car seat. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for dehydration.

All of the deceased suffered from gunshot wounds, as did the teenage girl.

The girl's condition was not released, but she was talking to investigators when they arrived. Neighbors said she is the daughter of either Davidson or Hill.

The sheriff's department believes this is a murder-suicide.

Investigators believe the victims did not live at the house the driveway lead toward.

The FBI and U.S. Marshal's service are helping to investigate the scene.

"What a nightmare, and such a coward," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said. "Davidson imposed the 'death penalty' on family members for his own crime."

Police believe they have accounted for everyone involved in the situation.

Davidson was sentenced on April 28 for sending spam e-mail messages. The conviction earned him the nickname "Spam King."

Police had been looking for a silver Sequoia in connection with his disappearance.

The U.S. Attorney's office says Davidson left the prison in Florence in a car with his wife. He then drove to Lakewood, where he got a change of clothes and cash from her parent's house before leaving.

Someone claiming to have spoken with Hill while she and her husband were on the run described their conversation to 9NEWS on condition of anonymity. He said Hill told him she was being taken against her will and that Davidson was "in charge."

Davidson and Hill moved from the home near Bennett where the shootings occured in October 2007 after he was indicted by a federal grand jury.

The family moved to Lakewood. Neighbors tell 9NEWS that Davidson was friendly, sometimes clearing snow from their driveways in the winter. He also could be overbearing, several said, pushing his religious and political viewpoints.

When contacted by 9NEWS, Davidson's ex-wife, who lives in Boulder, declined comment.

Davidson was arrested for violating a restraining order she placed against him after their divorce in 1999.

Davidson made at least $3.5 million sending hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails for nearly 20 companies to promote watches, perfume and other items. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion and falsifying e-mail headers; in April he was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay the IRS nearly $715,000. Prosecutors say Davidson operated his spamming activities from his personal residence in Bennett, where he had a large network of computers and servers which facilitated his business.

Falsifying e-mail headers is a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The acronym stands for "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003." It establishes requirements for those who send commercial e-mail, spells out penalties for spammers, and gives consumers the right to ask e-mailers to stop spamming them.

At the time of his escape, Davidson was being housed in a minimum security institution known as a Federal Prison Camp. It has dormitory housing and a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio. Inmates typically help serve the labor needs of the larger institutions the camps are typically located near.