Causes of deaths revealed in Stafford murder-suicide that left 4 dead

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The four people found dead in a Stafford home last week each died from a gunshot wound to the head, the Medical Examiner's Office said Monday.

Lance Buckley's death was a suicide, while the deaths of Amy Buckley, 30, Claire Buckley, 5, and Abigail Buckley, 17 months, have been classified as homicides, said the chief medical examiner in Richmond.

Authorities say Lance, his wife, Amy, their 5-year-old daughter, and 17-month-old daughter were found dead inside of a home on Thursday in the Windsor Forest subdivision in the northwestern part of the county.

On Thursday morning, authorities said they received a 911 call from a man identifying himself as Lance Buckley reporting a murder-suicide at their family's home and then hung up the phone. When Stafford County sheriff deputies arrived at the home, they found four bodies inside.

As an entire community tries to deal with the tragedy that rocked their quiet neighborhood, questions continue to swirl because it appears there were red flags. In May of last year, shortly after the couple's second daughter was born, Lance Buckley, a Howard University Ph.D student, was reported missing.

Several law enforcement agencies launched a huge search and Buckley's mother asked for the public's help to help find her son. At one point, authorities expressed concern about Buckley having a gun.

But several days later, he was found unharmed at a campground near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. No explanation was ever given about what exactly happened and how he ended up there.