Schoolteacher, children killed by husband

DEXTER, (AP)

While known at school as a fun-loving kindergarten teacher whose students made ice cream and tie-dyed shirts, Amy Lake was living a nightmare at home as she sought to protect herself and her children from an estranged husband who threatened to take a knife to her and do things "you wouldn't do to farm animals," records show.

After being held at gunpoint a year ago, Lake and her children moved from home to home. When they moved to Dexter, she stopped by the local police department and asked police to keep an eye out for her because she feared her husband.

An officer came to check on her Monday after someone saw her husband's vehicle in the driveway. The officer arrived too late.

Police say Steven Lake, 37, used a shotgun to kill his wife and their two children, 12-year-old Monica and 13-year-old Coty.

District Attorney Christopher Almy expressed frustration that Lake wound up dead after doing all the right things, alerting police and taking out a protective order against her husband. Society too often doesn't take domestic violence seriously enough, he said.