ABC
A former Wife Swap star has been accused of turning his family home into a gruesome crime scene.
Jacob Stockdale, 25, is alleged to have shot dead his mother, Kathryn, 54 and brother, James, 21, before turning the gun on himself in a horrifying murder suicide attempt.
Jacob – who featured on the US version of Wife Swap in 2008 alongside his parents and three other brothers – is currently in hospital, having survived his injury.
According to a sheriff’s report obtained by Radar Online, officers reported that they were dispatched to the Stockdale family home in stark County, Ohio, where they encountered the gory scene.
“Upon my arrival to the front door, I observed an individual lying on his back with his head facing the front door,” the officer reported. “As I was about to ask if the individual was okay, I heard one single gunshot coming from inside the residence.’
One officer found Jacob “laying near the front door with an apparent gunshot wound with the shotgun lying at his side” and another officer found “a third individual lying on the floor in the upstairs bathroom with an apparent gunshot wound.”
Jacobs father, Timothy, who was not at home at the time later released a statement.
‘Kathy has been my beloved wife of 32 years and a wonderful mother to our four sons. She loved nothing more than being a mother and grandmother. She had a strong love of learning and was passionate about her Christian faith, natural health, and organic farming.’
Their eldest son Calvin released a separate statement regarding his brother James, saying: ‘James, our youngest brother, has always been a catalyst of family fun. Aside from being a gifted musician, James enjoyed dancing and had a innate love of people.’
The Stockdale family were known to be deeply religious Christians. They were also all part of a family bluegrass band.
According to their biography, the family ‘fed up with city living and mass culture’ moved to a farm in Ohio ‘to begin a new, wholesome life’.
The family’s four sons Calvin, Charles, Jacob and James were all home schooled and ‘adhere[d] to wholesome values, untainted by modern culture’.
The profile added: ‘The boys have little or no interaction with the outside world, and dating is out of the question, including for Calvin, who is 19 at the time’.
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