PHILADELPHIA — Former Marines who served with a man believed to have killed his ex-wife and five of her relatives said he fought constantly with her, although a Veterans Administration psychiatrist deemed him free of any suicidal or homicidal thoughts a week before the deadly rampage.
Bradley Stone had an ax, a machete and two prescription pill bottles beside him when he was found dead Tuesday in woods near his suburban Philadelphia home. The ax and the machete may have been used on some of his ex-wife’s relatives, the youngest two of whom suffered what officials called “chopping wounds.” The adults were shot.
Stone and his ex-wife had been locked in a five-year custody battle that sparked frequent calls to the police.
An autopsy Wednesday showed that Stone neither shot nor fatally stabbed himself, although he had some non-fatal cuts on his legs. Toxicology tests were being done to determine how he died.