In late December 1987 a large familicide in Dover, Arkansas, culminated in the death of 29-year-old Ronald Gene Simmons Jr. That same morning Simmons Sr. also killed his wife Becky and his three-year-old granddaughter Barbara; the bodies of those first victims were placed in a pit that had been dug earlier.

The killings continued over the next days as other family members arrived for the holidays; methods described include shooting, bludgeoning, strangulation and drowning. Afterward bodies were reportedly arranged inside the house and covered with coats. On December 28 Simmons Sr. drove into nearby Russellville, where he killed two more people and wounded four before surrendering to police. Simmons Sr. was the only person arrested and was later convicted of sixteen counts of murder.