About 1 p.m. Sunday, family members found Lisa Pierson, 39, and her daughter Casey Barker dead in their Younger Drive home. Police say the two were repeatedly bludgeoned with a farm tool.

State Police said Lisa Pierson may have been pregnant and may have lived for hours after the attack. She died on the way to the hospital.

Barker, 20, was dead when police arrived at the home.

The double homicide and the strange events that followed span a 12-hour period.

Just before midnight Sunday, emergency crews pulled 38-year-old Stanley Pierson, Lisa Pierson’s husband and Barker’s stepfather, from the Kanawha River near Daniel Boone Park. State Police believe he jumped off the Yeager bridge hours earlier.

Stanley Pierson is the main suspect in the attack that killed his wife and stepdaughter. Though there was no official court record showing a history of violence at the home, family and neighbors say the Piersons had their share of trouble.

“It’s been coming for a long time because of the way they lived and got along,” said neighbor James Blaylock.

State Police are guarding Pierson's hospital room at Charleston Area Medical Center’s General Hospital. Officers said he is in serious condition and being treated for hypothermia.

Pierson completed a 12-hour-shift Sunday morning at the Charleston Work Release Center where he worked as a corrections officer.

He has 10 years experience with the center and a spokesman for the department said Pierson had been a model employee.