Pennsylvania man uses chain saw to slay wife, then himself
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A
suburban Philadelphia man killed his wife with a chain saw and then
turned the machine on himself in a grisly murder-suicide, prosecutors
said on Wednesday.
Police were called to a home in affluent Lower Moreland Township,
Pennsylvania, on Tuesday afternoon after the couple’s 14-year-old son,
who had been outside playing basketball, came home and found the bloody
bodies.
“A
chain saw was recovered at the scene,” said Kevin Steele, first
assistant district attorney for Montgomery County. “It’s clear that it
was used at least in part.”
Dr. Walter Hofman, the Montgomery County coroner, said
autopsies showed that Nicole Peppelman, 43, died at the hands of her
husband, Christopher Peppelman, 48, of a “sharp force injury of the
abdomen” aggravated by stab wounds and “throttling of the neck.”
The husband then committed suicide, Hofman said, dying of
“gaping, sharp force injuries of the abdomen and right thigh.”
In both deaths, Steele said, the chain saw did the main damage.
When the son called 911, he reported that his parents
appeared to be dead from chain saw cuts. The couple had three children,
none of whom were home when the crime occurred.
Neighbors told local media that the couple had been married for 20 years
but had been having marital difficulties recently.
Christopher Peppelman was a building contractor whose office was in his home in Huntingdon Valley.
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