On a tragic day in November 2016, the life of 30-year-old Amy Rebecca Wetmore Buckley, a female, was cut short in her Stafford, Virginia home. Her death, which occurred on November 17, was the result of a devastating act of violence that also claimed the lives of her two young daughters, 5-year-old Claire and 17-month-old Abigail.
The events of that morning unfolded after a chilling 911 call was made by a man identifying himself as Amy's husband, 35-year-old Lance Calvin Buckley.
In the call, he stated his intention to report three murders and a suicide before hanging up. When Stafford County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the family's residence on Wilderness Court, they discovered a horrific scene in the lower level of the house: the bodies of Amy, Lance, and their two children.
Subsequent investigation by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond confirmed that Amy Buckley and her daughters all died from gunshot wounds to the head, and their deaths were classified as homicides. Lance Buckley's death was also due to a gunshot wound and was ruled a suicide. This confirmed that the incident was a murder-suicide, with Lance Buckley as the perpetrator.
This shocking event was preceded by a concerning incident more than a year earlier, in May 2015. Lance Buckley, then a Ph.D. student at Howard University, was reported missing just days before he was expected to graduate. The disappearance prompted a significant search and a public plea from Amy for his safe return. He was eventually found unharmed at a campground near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, though the reasons for his disappearance were never publicly explained.
