Man beat six relatives to death

SIX family members who were beaten to death over the weekend were attacked with so much force that each died almost instantly, a coroner said yesterday.

Jesse Dee Wise, the grandson of the oldest victim, admitted killing his relatives and dumping their bodies in the basement of the family home, in the US state of Pennsylvania.

He was charged Thursday with the six murders.

Wise confessed to strangling three of the victims and bludgeoning three others.

Lancaster County Coroner Dr G Gary Kirchner said "They were hit with a blunt instrument with incredible force [resulting in] pretty much instant death."

"I don't think anybody suffered," Kirchner added.

Wise, 21, lived with his grandparents in Leola, a small village in Lancaster County's rural Amish country.

In a guitar case at the home, police found two 17-inch pieces of metal wrapped at one end with cloth, "which had the appearance of a homemade weapon/club, capable of causing death" said a police affidavit. Police added it appeared to have blood on it.