Russell and Emma Craddock were roused from their bed Tuesday morning by the sound of someone pounding on their door and screaming for help.

At first, they did not realize it was their 16-year-old great-niece, Skye Cockman. They could not have imagined the terrible events that had occurred in her nearby house. At first glance, everything seemed fine at the home of Skye's parents, Rex and Maggie Cockman.

"I looked outside and saw the floodlights on at their house, and everything looked normal," said Emma Craddock, who is Rex Cockman's aunt. Craddock first thought someone might be trying to break into their home on Plank Road just outside Robbins.

It was a few minutes before 7 a.m. She and her husband, a retired pastor, were awake but still in bed. Russell Craddock went to the door and let the girl in.

"She was screaming so hard that she was barely able to breathe," Emma Craddock recalled in an interview. "She said her mother had a gun. She said, 'Mama's going to kill me!' My husband told her, 'She will not kill you here. You're safe here.' He locked the door."

Russell Craddock called 911 at 6:58 a.m. Sheriff's deputies came to the Craddocks' home at 1625 Plank Road. They then went to the Cockmans' house, at 1648 Plank Road, where they found the bodies of Rex, 43, and Maggie, 49, dead from gunshot wounds. One was self-inflicted, according a report from the Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's investigators have not said who shot whom. Capt. Jeff Medlin reiterated Thursday that no other details are being released at this time.

Emma Craddock said deputies came back to their house and got Skye. They put her in a patrol car. She said she tried to talk to the girl while she was sitting in the car but that deputies would not allow it.

"It was like a lockdown over there," she said.

Craddock said deputies took Skye to the Sheriff's Office, where she was told that her parents were dead.

"That girl already knew her parents were dead," she said. "We knew they were dead."

What triggered the violence is unknown now.

Emma Craddock, 73, and her husband, 76, have lived there for about 15 years. She said the Cockmans moved there about 13 years ago. There are two daughters. Skye is a student at North Moore High School, and the older sister, Suzanne C. Mitts, is married and is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

"They are good girls," Craddock said. She said Skye studied hard and made the Honor Roll at school. She said she was also active in her church.

Maggie Cockman, who was a native of Randolph County, had been laid off at Tara Plantation in Carthage several months ago and had not worked since, according to Emma Craddock.

"She was very faithful and dedicated to her job," she said.

Rex, a Moore County native, formerly worked at the Perdue chicken plant in Robbins. He was on disability and had not worked in a long time, she said.

"They were just having it hard," Craddock said. "Skye said her mom was not resting well at night."

But still, Craddock said she had no idea that something like this would happen.

She said some of the neighbors told her that they saw the Cockmans and their daughter Monday afternoon walking to a pond near their house.

"Rex loved to fish," she said. "Everything seemed fine then."

Most weekday mornings, Craddock said, she usually hears the school bus when it comes to pick up Skye. She said that Skye had taken a shower and was getting ready for school Tuesday morning. She said Skye told her and her husband that her mother approached her, holding a gun behind her back, and told her to run from the house. The girl told them that she did not hear any shots fired.

As the day wore on Tuesday, the bodies were taken from the home and yellow crime scene tape was removed. Craddock said Skye was allowed to go back inside to get some belongings. She is believed to be staying with other relatives.

A sister of Rex Cockman's mother said she declined requests for interviews.

Emma Craddock said she is now left to wonder why this happened.

"I look over there (at their house), and it looks just like it always did," she said. "But it is empty now. This is just so sad. We just assumed they were OK, that things were fine.

"They had just gotten through Christmas and the holidays. This is a tough time of the year for some people. We just didn't know how bad it must have been for them. We could have done something for them if we had only known. But that time is gone. We are all crushed by this. For the rest of my life, I will always wonder if there was something we could have done for them."

Contact David Sinclair at 693-2462 or by e-mail at dsinclair@thepilot.com.