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Ex-friend killed widow in stabbing murder-suicide

Published  September 15, 2016 10:13am EDT
U.S.
FOX 29 Philadelphia

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA (WTXF/AP) - It was a murder-suicide that happened before a man and woman were found stabbed to death, each with multiple wounds, on Tuesday.

Philadelphia police said a male former friend -- 60-year-old Lawrence Carty -- stabbed 68-year-old widow Virginia McLaughlin in her home in the Far Northeast, not far from Woodhaven Road.

Neighbors told police Carty and McLaughlin were friends, but that ended after an argument last week.

Then, neighbors noticed McLaughlin hadn't brought in trash cans from the front of her well-kept home in the 12000 block of Elmore Road and they called police.

McLaughlin's body was found in the living room, and Carty's in the kitchen.

Police found the weapon and determined both had been stabbed, and Carty's wounds were self-inflicted.

McLaughlin had lived in the home for 25 years. Her husband died in 1999 and her adult sons had since moved out.