US man kills wife with chainsaw, then turns machine on himself

A Philadelphia man killed his wife with a chainsaw and then turned the machine on himself in a grisly murder-suicide, prosecutors said.

Police were called to a home in affluent Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania, after the couple’s 14-year-old son, who had been outside playing basketball, came home and found the bloody bodies.

“A chainsaw 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.”

Walter Hofman, Montgomery County coroner, said autopsies showed 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, dying of “gaping, sharp force injuries of the abdomen and right thigh”. In both deaths, Steele said, the chainsaw did the main damage.

The couple had three children.