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.
(Reporting by David DeKok; Editing by Frank McGurty and Eric Walsh)
I'm actually impressed he managed to kill himself with a chainsaw in that fashion. I mean I've heard of people falling on their own swords but this takes it to a whole new level.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-02 09:23am
by Broomstick
There was a guy who cut off his own head with a chainsaw.
The thing about chainsaws is that that go through human flesh very quickly, and are heavy enough to have some momentum. Put yourself in the path of the blade and you get a lot of damage quickly.
With a belly injury it probably wasn't an instant death, most likely he bled out. That could be fairly quick, but not quick enough to skip a lot of pain and agony.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-02 10:40am
by Zaune
The husband then committed suicide, Hofman said, dying of “gaping, sharp force injuries of the abdomen and right thigh.”
Jesus Christ. He must have been trying to commit seppuku with the fucking thing!
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-02 11:00am
by phred
Its possible the suicide part was accidental. The motor acts like a gyroscope when you rev it, making swinging it around kind of dangerous to everything in the area, including the user.
I've cut myself with a chainsaw, and it's amazing how much damage a light touch can do.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-02 11:56am
by dragon
Broomstick wrote:There was a guy who cut off his own head with a chainsaw.
The thing about chainsaws is that that go through human flesh very quickly, and are heavy enough to have some momentum. Put yourself in the path of the blade and you get a lot of damage quickly.
With a belly injury it probably wasn't an instant death, most likely he bled out. That could be fairly quick, but not quick enough to skip a lot of pain and agony.
Unless if he hit the descending aorta causing a traumatic aorta transection which would cause a massive drop in blood pressure resulting in a quick unconsciousness before quickly bleeding to death. Also it mention right thigh it could have gotten the Femoral Artery. Wouldn't bleed out as fast. Now if he missed both of them then he was in a slow painful death
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-02 12:48pm
by Broomstick
If he hit the aorta (awkward, it's buried pretty deep in the anatomy) or femoral artery (more likely) he'd bleed out in seconds. And firehose the local area with blood, the spray would, after all, be pressurized. Extreme gore. If that's the case I feel sorry for the kid who found him. Hell, I feel sorry for the kids anyway but that would not be a sight you ever forget.
Otherwise - yeah, longer to die but given how chainsaws rip up tissue he'd still bleed to death fairly rapidly.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-03 10:55am
by Raw Shark
My Dad accidentally got himself pretty good in the leg with his chainsaw when I was twelve. He just grazed himself, but his pants and shoe were soaked through with blood by the time he made it back to the house, and he still has a scar that resembles hamburger. Those things are brutal. Luckily, his son was a Boy Scout at the time...
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-04 05:14pm
by Edi
What the fuck is it with assholes like this?
Goddamn coward can't just off himself if he feels shitty enough to do it, but has to take another person with him? What a piece of shit.
As far as power tools with fast moving motorized blades, they will all do serious damage to the human body since they are made to cut much harder materials. The guy might have lost control of the chainsaw unless the wounds clearly indicate suicide.
My dad once lost control of a handheld circular saw. Thing had a 6 mm wide blade and it bucked out of his hands and cut him twice on the forearm, so he has some impressive scars to show for it, but fortunately little else. He can thank his body's amazing healing ability for that, because the same wounds on some other people I know would have left their entire left arm stiff and with limited movement and possibly some interference in hand functions as well. All he has is two white lines that are slightly rougher, but no raised ridges or such.
I can also thank my good fortune that I've inherited that same trait, so I heal quickly and I don't scar.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-04 06:59pm
by Zaune
Edi wrote:What the fuck is it with assholes like this?
Goddamn coward can't just off himself if he feels shitty enough to do it, but has to take another person with him? What a piece of shit.
Maybe she was cheating on him or something? I dunno.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-04 07:09pm
by Shinn Langley Soryu
The first thing I thought of I when I first read that article was William Murderface's parents in Metalocalypse:
Never thought I'd actually read about a chainsaw murder-suicide occuring in real life.
Re: man kills wife and himself with chainsaw
Posted: 2015-04-07 04:47pm
by FTeik
Broomstick wrote:If he hit the aorta (awkward, it's buried pretty deep in the anatomy) or femoral artery (more likely) he'd bleed out in seconds. And firehose the local area with blood, the spray would, after all, be pressurized. Extreme gore. If that's the case I feel sorry for the kid who found him. Hell, I feel sorry for the kids anyway but that would not be a sight you ever forget.
Otherwise - yeah, longer to die but given how chainsaws rip up tissue he'd still bleed to death fairly rapidly.
Aside from the kid I feel sorry for the poor fuck, who had to clean up the mess.