Pa. Shooting Spree Suspect Found Dead with Self-Inflicted Wound

Published at 12:40 pm, December 16, 2014 | Updated at 10:50 am, October 22, 2015

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

Montgomery County District Atty(SOUDERTON, Pa.) — The body of a murder suspect has been found near his Pennsylvania home the day after he allegedly killed six of his relatives, according to the district attorney.

Bradley William Stone, 33, allegedly shot and killed his ex-wife and five of her relatives at three different crime scenes on Monday, and police found his body in a wooded area near his home Tuesday afternoon.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri confirmed on Tuesday that Stone was found dead after an apparent self-inflicted cutting wound in “the center part of his body.” His body was found about a half mile from his home.

Vetri went on to describe how each of his alleged victims died, which were a mix of gunshot and cutting wounds. The sole survivor of the attacks, Stone’s ex-wife’s 17-year-old nephew Anthony Flick, is in serious condition after sustaining “quite significant” cutting wounds to his head and hands but is expected to recover.

“They were defensive in nature and he was fighting off his attacker,” Vetri said of Flick’s wounds.

The Monday morning killing spree had prompted local and federal authorities to launch a manhunt in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

The discovery of Stone’s body came just hours after police held a news conference and released two new photos of Stone in the hopes of finding him.

In order to make the most recent photo they found on his cellphone during the investigation match their latest description of the suspect, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri said that authorities digitally removed the facial hair that he had in the photo because they believe he shaved recently.

The motive for the murders remains uncertain, but legal documents indicate that Stone and his ex-wife, one of his alleged victims, had been having custody issues over the control of their 5- and 8-year-old daughters.

Stone and Nicole Hill divorced in March 2009 and Montgomery County court documents show that they reached a shared custody agreement in April 2010 but there were some disputes over the arrangement in the years since.

The details from the documents are not publicly available, but earlier this month, Stone filed an emergency motion seeking custody. There was a resolution in the case on Dec. 9 but the specifics of that agreement were not available.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Vetri said that both of the couple’s girls, as well as Stone’s current wife and their daughter, are all safe.

Montgomery County court documents also show that Stone has been arrested three times — all related to charges of driving under the influence. Court documents show that a 2001 case ended with probation and the 2003 charge resulted in a mitigated judgment. He pleaded guilty to his most recent case in 2013 but was late in paying the resulting fines, court papers show.