Alleged killer’s mental decline recounted in affidavit

Joseph McAndrew Jr. withdrew from social events, ended a relationship with an Argentine woman he met on the Internet and became increasingly paranoid in the months before he allegedly killed his parents and twin brother, friends told Upper Merion investigators this week.

In a search warrant affidavit filed Tuesday, Montgomery County authorities recounted several interviews with those closest to the Upper Merion man who told them the 23-year-old had become increasingly isolated since late last year and had taken steps to distance himself from his family.

Detectives sought access to computers in the McAndrews family home as well as any books, personal correspondence and a Toyota Camry parked in the driveway.

"Detectives have thus far been unable to locate witnesses who could provide details of McAndrew's activities, demeanor and more importantly his mental state in the time period immediately preceding these murders," the affidavit states. "Unfortunately, the persons best able to answer those questions are now deceased."

But in the days after police discovered McAndrew covered in blood outside his home in the Gulph Mills section of the township and his family fatally stabbed inside, several friends recounted a downward spiral.

Scott Loayza, a friend of both McAndrew and his twin brother James, told investigators that Joseph McAndrew was a sword aficionado and had practiced cutting and slicing with the same 18-inch "samurai-style" dagger authorities believe he allegedly used to stab his family members Saturday.

Meanwhile, McAndrew began to suspect his twin brother of hacking into his computer and set up his own Internet account with Verizon, while his family used Comcast, Loayza is quoted as saying in the affidavit,

Another friend, Julian Gabrielli, said he last talked to McAndrew in December when he was distraught over the end of an Internet relationship, the affidavit states.

While cataloging the crime scene, detectives also found evidence of increasing mental distress, including a book titled "Dealing with Schizophrenia" - believed to have belonged to James McAndrew - and a sealed file labeled "2011 evidence of drug plan for Joe-Joe."

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said at a news conference Monday that mental illness must have played a role in Saturday's attack, but since then investigators have remained tight lipped about any evidence they may have already recovered in that vein.

McAndrew has said little since his peculiar statements at the time of his arrest that there had been an "extermination" and the victims were "the person named father," "person named mother," and "person named brother," according to sources close to the investigation.

And detectives have been unable to locate any records of treatment of mental illness through state or county-run facilities, suggesting McAndrew may not have had a formal diagnosis or that the family sought treatment for him through private facilities, investigators said.

But Tuesday's affidavit offers some doubt about the extent of any possible illness. As officers moved in to arrest him Saturday, McAndrew was holding the keys to the black Toyota Camry in the driveway.

"These facts, coupled with the fact that the doors to the house were locked, leads to the conclusion that McAndrew was about to enter his car and flee the scene," the affidavit states.

McAndrew remains in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bond, pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday.