The U.S. soldier suspected of murdering three people in Virginia and then driving up to Bucks County through Hurricane Irene to murder a fourth, brought his 6-year-old daughter on the killing spree, authorities say.
Leonard John Egland, 37, of Fort Lee, Va., died Sunday from a gunshot wound that may have been self-inflicted after he allegedly murdered his ex-wife, Carrie Egland, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s young son in Virginia and then drove up to Bucks County through Hurricane Irene to murder his former mother-in-law Barbara Ruehl.
After killing the three people in Virginia, the active-duty soldier took his young daughter from his ex-wife’s house and still had his daughter with him when he arrived at Ruehl’s home in Buckingham Township, reports Reuters.
The little girl was in Egland’s pickup truck outside Ruehl’s house while her father was allegedly murdering her grandmother, Bucks county District Attorney David Heckler told Reuters.
Egland then dropped his daughter off in the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital in Quakertown with a note “that suggested he was contemplating suicide,” Heckler told Reuters.
As police were in pursuit of Egland, residents of Doylestown Township were asked to stay in their homes and lock doors and cars – this just after a natural disaster hit the area.
The ordeal ended after Egland fired at several police officers in Warwick Township, wounding two of them, and then fleeing. His body was found soon after, at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, behind a vacant building in Warwick.
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The coroner has not yet said if the gunshot was self-inflicted.
It is not yet known if the girl witnessed the murders of her mother, the boyfriend and the boyfriend’s son.
The girl is now in custody of Bucks County's Children and Youth Social Services, reports Reuters.
