Coroner: Chainsaw Deaths Were Murder-Suicide

A Lower Moreland man killed his wife with a chainsaw, then somehow managed to turn it on himself in a bizarre murder-suicide discovered by their young son, authorities said.

Montgomery County Coroner Walter Hoffman concluded that Chris Peppelman, 48, killed his 43-year-old wife, Nicole Peppelman before killing himself. The coroner concluded that both the husband and wife died from wounds made by the chainsaw, according to Channel 6 Action News in Philadelphia.

There were also signs that Nicole Peppelman had been choked and stabbed in the neck. The couple were found by one of their three sons in their residence on the 1100 block of Country Lane at approximately 12:50 p.m. on March 31, police said.

The police arrived at the gruesome scene, and found the bodies mutilated by a chainsaw. A chainsaw was recovered at the residence, according to police.

According to a family friend, the couple had a troubled marriage of late with the wife and three sons no longer living at the residence. Instead they were staying at her mother’s home, according to the report.

>>Related: Couple Found Dead, Killed By Chainsaw in Lower Moreland