Coroner: Suspect in 6 Philly area killings committed suicide
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A man believed to have killed his ex-wife and five of her relatives earlier this month in the Philadelphia suburbs killed himself with a combination of drugs after the slayings, authorities said.
Montgomery County prosecutors and local police said in a statement Tuesday evening that the coroner had determined that 35-year-old Bradley Stone died of "combined drug intoxication" involving an antidepressant and an anti-psychotic medication. The death was ruled a suicide.
Stone's body was found in the woods about a half-mile from his Pennsburg home, about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, on Dec. 16, the day after authorities said the Iraq War veteran went on a gruesome, 90-minute killing rampage before daybreak at three homes in three nearby towns. They said he spared his two young daughters but killed his ex-wife, her mother, her grandmother, her sister, her brother-in-law and her 14-year-old niece. A 17-year-old nephew was left with a skull fracture and other injuries but survived after barricading himself in the third floor of his home.
Law enforcement officials said Tuesday that a machete and an axe that both "appeared to be coated in blood" were found near his body, and police also found two medicine bottles, one of which contained a crushed-up powder, as well as an energy drink container that had powder around the lip. Officials said death was due to Trazodone, an antidepressant, Risperidone, an antipsychotics medication, and mCPP, which is used in psychiatric research but also has been used as a recreational drug.
A forensic examination determined that Stone, who had been locked in a five-year custody fight that sparked frequent calls to the police, had a deep stab wound to the upper thigh as well as three superficial cuts to the leg and hip and 10 scratches on his face and neck.
Officials said Stone was barred from having firearms following an October 2013 drunken driving arrest, but he lied to a military psychologist as recently as last month, stating that he didn't have any weapons.
Authorities said probation and parole officials made 17 home visits, seven of them unscheduled, during the past year, and none indicated that he might possess weapons or had violated his probation and parole. Officials said he bought three handguns during the past decade and a half, one of which was used in the killings and one of which is still unaccounted for.
People with three DUI convictions within five years are barred from possessing guns, but although Stone had three such convictions they were not within five years, authorities said. His ex-wife had obtained a temporary protection from abuse order in 2010 but was denied a permanent order, they said.
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