{"id":307714,"date":"2026-10-16T04:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T04:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/307714\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T04:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T04:58:24","slug":"pennsylvania-man-who-killed-family-had-controlled-their-movements-and-finances-police-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/307714\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania man who killed family had controlled their movements and finances: police"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOHN RABY<\/p>\n

A Pennsylvania man who fatally shot eight others, including seven family members<\/a>, before killing himself had exercised strict control over his relatives, including their finances and interactions with others, police said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Investigators still don\u2019t know why family patriarch Matthew Stone Sr.<\/a> gunned down his wife, their three children, two grandchildren and two women who had rushed to the home and were shot outside, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

Lorah painted a picture of a family living in a home in isolated, filthy conditions. He said the authoritarian behavior of Stone, 45, started after his wife became pregnant with their first child more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n

The adult victims of the Oct. 9 shooting<\/a> previously were identified as Stone\u2019s wife, Michelle Stone, 44; their daughter, Angelina Stone, 24, who was due to give birth Monday, three days after the shooting; sons Jonathan Stone, 19, and Matthew Stone Jr., 21; and two women who lived at other addresses: Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51. Roberts was Michelle Stone\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n

A 5-year-old boy and a 22-month-old girl who were identified by relatives as Angelina Stone\u2019s children also were killed. State law prevented authorities from releasing their names.<\/p>\n

Family members told detectives that the elder Stone \u201crestricted when family members could leave the residence or spend time with relatives,\u201d Lorah said. In addition, Michelle Stone \u201cstopped maintaining contact with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elder Stone also kept a tight grip over the family\u2019s money, including supplemental government income received for one of the grandchildren, Lorah said.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Stone was arrested and charged with threatening his wife with the same .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Oct. 9 shootings. However, at a preliminary hearing, Michelle Stone \u201cchanged her original statement and those charges were withdrawn,\u201d Lorah said.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this image from video provided by WJET, police gather outside the scene of a shooting in Erie, Pa., on Friday evening, Oct. 9, 2026. (Matt Barnum\/WJET via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this image from video provided by WJET, police gather outside the scene of a shooting in Erie, Pa., on Friday evening, Oct. 9, 2026. (Matt Barnum\/WJET via AP)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People gather at a memorial in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, outside the home where authorities say a gunman killed several people before killing himself on Oct. 9. (AP Photo\/Ted Shaffrey)\n<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this image from video provided by WJET, police gather outside the scene of a shooting in Erie, Pa., on Friday evening, Oct. 9, 2026. (Matt Barnum\/WJET via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

In this image from video provided by WJET, police gather outside the scene of a shooting in Erie, Pa., on Friday evening, Oct. 9, 2026. (Matt Barnum\/WJET via AP)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

A year ago, daughter Angelina filed a petition to change her last name, citing concerns about the elder Stone\u2019s \u201cdeclining mental health,\u201d according to Lorah. She had planned to pursue a career in medicine and didn\u2019t want her last name associated with her father. But that application was closed in April 2026.<\/p>\n

Angelina Stone posted ultrasound photos of her unborn child on social media on Sept. 25. Lorah said she had been sending messages to others indicating she was going to leave the home after giving birth. She also said her father had been physically abusive toward her brothers. After the shootings, detectives found bags and boxes that were packed in Angelina Stone\u2019s bedroom.<\/p>\n

Detectives described conditions in the home as \u201cextremely filthy.\u201d A shower, toilet and kitchen sink didn\u2019t appear to be working, and there were numerous soda bottles filled with urine throughout the house. Water service remained active but had an outstanding balance of $1,900, the chief said.<\/p>\n

During their search, detectives also found drug paraphernalia, \u201cbut we cannot establish what role, if any, mental health or substance use played in the shooting,\u201d Lorah said.<\/p>\n

Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before Roberts and Tanner arrived and began pounding on the door. The gunman then came out and shot them as they ran toward him, before returning inside. Tanner was the only nonrelative killed, Lorah said.<\/p>\n

As circumstances of the family\u2019s living conditions and history came to light, Mayor Daria Devlin said some difficult questions, too, have surfaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere there opportunities to recognize that this family was struggling?\u201d Devlin said. \u201cWere there places where our systems could have responded differently? And how do we make sure that families in this community who are suffering and struggling like this don\u2019t fall through the cracks?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot assume that any one intervention could have prevented what happened on Friday. But that can\u2019t stop us from examining where each one of us can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOHN RABY A Pennsylvania man who fatally shot eight others, including seven family members, before killing himself…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,126118,125297,39645,28],"class_list":["post-307714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-man-kills-family","tag-matthew-stone-sr","tag-murder-suicide","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}