Laurie Mason SchroederALLENTOWN, Pa. — Strewn around the body of Montgomery County mass murderer Bradley Stone were two prescription pill bottles, a machete, a double-bladed ax and an energy drink bottle with white powder around the lip.
Any of the items "could have contributed" to the death of the ex-Marine Corps reservist who killed his former wife and five of her family members in an early morning rampage Monday, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said. But, Ferman added, the precise cause of his death won't be known until all post-mortem tests are complete.
No suicide note was found.
Ferman released the new information Wednesday, shortly after Coroner Walter Hofman disclosed that Stone, 35, did not die from self-inflicted stab wounds, as was previously reported.
Hofman said Wednesday that the only injury on Stone's body was a wound on his left leg.
"The wound would have bled some, but it was not on a major blood vessel and did not contribute to his death," Hofman said.
Ferman said the officers who found Stone's body did see what appeared to be cutting wounds, but the body was not thoroughly examined at the scene.
There was no evidence Stone shot himself, Hofman said. Toxicology reports will be expedited, he added.
Police say Stone murdered his ex-wife and five of her family members during a 90-minute pre-dawn killing spree, traveling from Pennsburg to Souderton, to Lansdale and then to Lower Salford Township, shooting and slicing the victims to death.
Police officers found the Pennsburg resident's body at 1:38 p.m Tuesday in a wooded area in Upper Hanover Township, about a half-mile from his Fourth Street home
Stone had been dead for an estimated 12 hours before his body was found, Hofman said. That means he was likely alive during the height of the manhunt Monday, while police were going door to door in Pennsburg.
Officers had been swarming over the small town near the Montgomery-Lehigh County border since early Monday, when the bodies of the victims were discovered in three locations.
Killed in attack was his ex-wife, Nicole Hill, 33, of Lower Salford; Hill's mother and grandmother, Joanne T. Gilbert, 57, and Patricia Hill, 75, both of Lansdale.
In Souderton, police say he murdered Hill's sister, Patricia Flick, brother-in-law Aaron Flick, and their 14-year-old daughter Nina. The couple's son, Anthony, 17, survived the attack but remains hospitalized with severe injuries, including a skull fracture and severed fingers.
Police say they do not know Stone's motive, but he was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with Nicole Hill over his two daughters, ages 5 and 7.
It remains unclear whether Stone's military experience contributed to the rampage. Records show he joined the Marine Corps Reserve in October 2002 and was on active duty until September 2008. Stone spent less than three months in Iraq in 2008, records show.
A spokesman from the Department of Veterans Affairs told The Philadelphia Daily News on Wednesday that Stone was "100 percent service connected disabled for post-traumatic stress disorder effective Oct. 28, 2010."
According to the Daily News report, Stone last met with a psychiatrist at a veterans medical facility in Coatesville on Dec. 8, and a report noted that Stone didn't exhibit any "suicidal or homicidal ideation."
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