Body found near Pennsylvania home of Iraq war vet sought in deaths of family

A body was found on Tuesday near the home of an Iraq War veteran suspected of fatally shooting six family members in Pennsylvania, a district attorney said.

The Montgomery County district attorney did not immediately confirm media reports that the body was that of suspect Bradley William Stone, 35, of Pennsburg.

Stone was being sought in the deaths on Monday of his ex-wife, her mother, grandmother, sister and two other family members, including his 14-year-old niece.

The two-day manhunt prompted lockdowns and cancellations of schools around Pennsburg, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Philadelphia, where residents were advised to stay inside with their doors locked, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told a news conference.

Stone's 17-year-old nephew, Anthony Flick, was seriously wounded in the attacks and hospitalized in stable condition, Ferman said.

Stone's daughters, ages 8 and 5, were safe. He had taken them from his ex-wife's house and left them with a neighbor on Monday, Ferman said. His current wife and infant child also were safe.

The killings set off Pennsylvania's second recent high-profile manhunt after a seven-week chase to capture survivalist Eric Frein, 31, accused of killing a state trooper in September.

Upper Perkiomen schools in the Pennsburg area were closed on Tuesday, the district said.

Stone suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, the Bucks County Courier Times reported. He enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 2002, was deployed to Iraq and was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant in 2011, according to military spokesman Captain Dustin Pratico.

Autopsies were under way on Tuesday. A law enforcement source said some of the bodies had stab wounds, some gunshot wounds and some may have had both.

Stone and his ex-wife, Nicole, 33, filed for divorce in 2009 and continued to have a custody battle. Stone asked a court on Dec. 5 to grant him custody on an emergency basis, according to court records.

(Reporting by Daniel Kelley; Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Eric Beech and Bill Trott)