The brutal murders of four family members in Winchester, Mass. occurred after a disagreement between Thomas Mortimer IV and his wife, with marital discord a frequent occurrence in the home, the Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said Thursday.
Mortimer, 43, has been charged with killing his wife, Laura Stone Mortimer, 41, their children, four-year-old Thomas and two-year-old Charlotte, and his mother-in-law Ragna Ellen Stone, 64.
He was captured Thursday in the western Massachusetts town of Bernardston.
Relatives of Mortimer’s family raised the alarm after they were unable to contact anyone at the home, 10 miles north of Boston, since Monday night.
Speaking at a press conference, Leone said that when Laura Stone Mortimer’s sister Deborah called her sister’s cell phone, Thomas Mortimer answered and told her, “It’s going to be awhile before she can get back to you.”
According to Leone, Deborah went to the Mortimers’ home to check on her sister’s well-being on Wednesday and saw visible blood in the house when she looked in the window.
Leone described the murder scene as “horrific, disturbing and unspeakable,” but declined to say how the family was killed.