WASHINGTON — An infant and a 5-year-old were among the four people found dead Thursday morning in a Stafford County subdivision in what sheriffs are calling a murder-suicide.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that a man called 911 at about 8:40 a.m. Thursday. He said he wanted to report three murders and a suicide on Wilderness Court, which is in the Windsor Forest subdivision in Stafford. He identified himself as Lance Buckley, then hung up the phone.
When the deputies arrived at the home, they found four bodies on the lower level.
“The preliminary investigation shows that the incident was domestically related and is a murder-suicide,” said M.C. Morris Moncure, spokeswoman for the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, said later Thursday.
On Friday, sheriffs identified the bodies as Lance Buckley, 35; his wife, Amy Buckley, 30, and their daughters — Claire, 5, and Abigail, 17 months.
Lance Buckley was in the news last year: A Ph.D. student at Howard University, Buckley disappeared for two days in May 2015 after heading to Howard to pick up graduation materials. He was found safe two days later in Frederick County, Maryland, at the Brunswick Family Campground near Harpers Ferry in West Virginia.
Detectives are continuing to investigate.
Stafford County Public Schools said Rockhill Elementary, where 5-year-old Claire Buckley attended school, would have a grief responder team on hand to help students and staff cope with the loss.
“Although the incident did not occur on-campus, we know it can have an impact on our school community,” a release from the school system stated.
