Causes of death determined in Virginia family murder-suicide
STAFFORD, Va. -- Officials say a Virginia man, his wife and their two daughters died from gunshot wounds to the head in what has been described as a murder-suicide.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said 35-year-old Lance Calvin Buckley; 30-year-old Amy Buckley; 5-year-old Claire Buckley; and 17-month-old Abigail Buckley were found dead in their Stafford County home last week.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released the cause of death to local news organizations on Monday.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that a man who identified himself as Lance Buckley called 911 Thursday morning and said he wanted to report three murders and a suicide.
The sheriff’s office said that when deputies arrived at the scene they found the four bodies in the lower level of the home.
Buckley was the subject of a bizarre missing person case last year that drew national headlines. The Howard doctoral student vanished on his way to the Washington, D.C. school days before his graduation. He was found safe days later at a campground near Maryland’s border with West Virginia, miles from his home.
Family had pleaded for his return.
“I just want you home, I love you,” his wife Amy Buckley told reporters tearfully, holding her then-newborn. “You’re the love of my life.”