Fugitive spammer Eddie Davidson shot his wife and infant daughter dead on Thursday before turning the gun on himself - four days after going AWOL from a minimum security prison.

Police responding to reports of gunfire in the small town of Bennett, Colorado found Davidson along with his wife Amy Lee Ann Hill, 29, and three-year-old daughter already dead and lying near a Toyota Sequoia SUV with a pistol nearby. A seven-month-old child lay unharmed in the back seat of the car, while a teenage girl escaped alive after running to a neighbour's home but sustained a shot to her neck, the Denver Post reports.

The motives for the apparent murder-suicide are unclear.

Hill reportedly told Denver police on Sunday that Davidson had just forced her to drive him to Denver after his escape from a minimum security jail in Florence, Colorado. She said Davidson had "slapped" her during the two-hour drive and took the SUV they travelled in, leaving her stranded.

Davidson started a 21-month sentence for spamming offences in May. Prior to his incarceration, Davidson had been a fixture of the Spamhaus Register Of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database for many years.

Details of his career in junk mail can be found here. ®

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