DA: 4 found dead at Mass. home in 'horrific' scene

[June 17, 2010]  WINCHESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Investigators were searching for a man for questioning after his wife, two young children and mother-in-law were found dead Wednesday in what a prosecutor would only describe as a horrific scene at their home in an affluent Boston suburb.

Authorities would not say how the victims died. Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone identified them as 64-year-old Ellen Stone, her 41-year-old daughter, Laura Stone Mortimer, and Laura's two children, 4-year-old Thomas Mortimer V and 2-year-old Charlotte Mortimer.

Laura Mortimer's husband, Thomas Mortimer IV, was unaccounted for and authorities were looking for him for questioning, Leone said.

Police, firefighters and relatives found the victims when they broke into their home at 11:30 a.m. after other family members said they had not been able to reach them since Monday night, the prosecutor said.

"Having been at the scene, I can tell you it was horrific, disturbing and unspeakable, and the acts do not appear to be random," Leone said at a terse news conference. He did not elaborate and declined to take questions.

Neighbors on the quiet street in Winchester, about eight miles north of Boston, expressed shock as they watched investigators come and go at the two-story yellow house roped off with crime scene tape. A visibly distressed woman who said she was friends with Ellen Stone drove up to the house and began to tremble when she heard that the children were not spared. She quickly drove away, in tears, before identifying herself.

"We are in shock because it wasn't a type of family you'd ever think that that would happen to, said Shelley Smyth, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose parents still live there.

Investigators declined to discuss the case in detail, including a possible motive.

Some neighbors said Laura Mortimer and her husband were going through marital problems, but Smyth said there were no outward signs of discord between the couple.

"There was no sign of that. They looked like a happy family," Smyth said. "That's why we are in shock, they looked so happy."

Laura Mortimer was a senior economist with the commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis.

Smyth described her as "very lovely, always walking her dog, always very friendly."

Police were searching for Thomas Mortimer IV, who previously lived in Avon, Conn., Denver and Englewood, Colo., as well as Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

His parents in Avon hung up the phone when called for comment Wednesday.

[Associated Press; By RODRIQUE NGOWI]

AP reporter Jay Lindsay in Boston and AP researcher Barbara Sambriski in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.