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Investigators: Stone lied about gun, overdosed after rampage

If Bradley Stone's capacity for violence existed before last week, he apparently kept it well-hidden. In the past year, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said Tuesday, Stone raised no red flags in 22 court appearances and 17 visits or contacts with probation officers, lied about having guns, and convinced a military psychiatrist that he wasn't homicidal or suicidal.

If Bradley Stone's capacity for violence existed before last week, he apparently kept it well-hidden.

In the past year, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said Tuesday, Stone raised no red flags in 22 court appearances and 17 visits or contacts with probation officers, lied about having guns, and convinced a military psychiatrist that he wasn't homicidal or suicidal.

Last Monday, he proved it all wrong.

In about 90 minutes, officials said, Stone shot, slashed, and chopped to death his ex-wife and five of her relatives, according to newly released autopsy details. Five victims were shot in the head. The youngest, a 14-year-old girl, was chopped 12 times in the head and neck.

When Stone was finished, prosecutors said, he dropped his two young daughters off at the home he shared with his new wife and baby and downed a lethal cocktail of drugs in the woods near his home. His lifeless body - with a 21/2-inch stab wound to the leg, plus various scratches - was found beside a machete and an ax, both covered in blood.

These details and more were unveiled late Tuesday afternoon in a joint statement by Ferman and local police.

The new information came more than a week after authorities found the body of the 35-year-old Marine veteran in a patch of woods near his Pennsburg home, ending a daylong manhunt in four townships in upper Montgomery and Bucks Counties.

Officials have not concluded what spurred the deadly attacks, but Stone had been embroiled with his ex-wife, Nicole Stone, in a bitter battle for custody of their children.

According to Ferman, Nicole Stone obtained a temporary restraining order against her husband in September 2010. It lasted 10 days, and her application for a permanent protection-from-abuse order was denied.

The two were in divorce proceedings at the time, and court dockets show that Nicole Stone changed her address three days after the temporary order was issued. Their divorce was finalized in December 2012.

In 2011, Ferman said, Stone legally purchased the .40-caliber handgun used in the slayings. Under the terms of his admission to Veterans Treatment Court after a 2013 DUI arrest, Stone was told by a probation officer that he was no longer allowed to have weapons. He agreed to the terms.

The account released late Tuesday afternoon did not say if probation officers or other court officials were aware of the weapons Stone had legally purchased, or asked him if he still owned them or would surrender them. Prosecutors did not respond to additional questions on that or other matters.

Stone, who said he suffered from post-traumatic stress after serving in Iraq, had to submit to frequent court monitoring and home visits.

Between November 2013 and Dec. 5, the statement said, he was in court nearly two dozen times. Probation officers conducted seven "unscheduled" visits to his home.

They searched Stone's property "to the fullest extent that the law allows," Ferman said in the statement. "At no time did those home visits/inspections indicate that Stone was in possession of a firearm, and at no time was Stone found to be in a violation of probation and parole."

In a search of his home last week, investigators found a .22-caliber rifle in an attic crawl space.

The statement said that "as recently as November 2014, Stone lied to a military psychologist when he stated that he did not have any weapons," though the context of that conversation was unclear.

The disclosures about the weapons came as prosecutors also announced the results of the autopsies performed on Stone and his victims, and detailed further troubles between Stone and his ex-wife.

Stone killed himself by overdosing on a combination of Trazodone, Risperidone, and mCPP. The first is typically used to treat depression and sleeping problems, the second for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and the third is a psychoactive stimulant.

Nicole Stone died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and a hand, officials said. She was found in the second-floor bedroom of her Lower Salford apartment.

Her aunt said last week that Nicole Stone had had issues with drugs, and their divorce docket shows that a week before the slayings, Bradley Stone had filed an emergency petition for custody.

Nicole Stone's mother, Joanne Gilbert, 57, and grandmother, Patricia Hill, 75, were found dead in their Lansdale apartment. Gilbert was shot in the face and her throat was slashed. Hill was shot in the head.

At a third scene, in Souderton, Nicole Stone's sister, Patricia Flick, 38, and her husband, Aaron, 39, both died of gunshot wounds to the head. Aaron Flick also had "chopping wounds" to the head, officials said.

Their daughter, Nina, 14, was killed by 12 chop wounds to the head and one to the back of the neck.

Their son, Anthony, 17, survived, but had chopping wounds to his head and hands. He was released from an area hospital on Monday.

A fund-raising website established by Anthony Flick's friends, viewable at gofundme.com/fundsforflick, confirmed that he had been released, and said he was embarking "on this long road to recovery."