Arizona Neo-Nazi Was Sober, Drug-Free During Murder Spree
Immigrant-hating neo-Nazi J.T. Ready was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he went on a murderous rampage in early May in Gilbert, Ariz., killing four people before taking his own life, a newly released autopsy report says.
Jason Todd 鈥淛.T.鈥� Ready, 39, died from a single bullet he fired into his own 鈥渞ight temporal scalp,鈥� Maricopa County Medical Examiner Etoi Davenport ruled in the formal autopsy report. 鈥淭he cause of death is gunshot wound of the head, and the manner of death is suicide,鈥� the report said.
A 鈥渃opper-colored jacketed gray metallic mushroom-shaped bullet鈥� was recovered from the left side of Ready鈥檚 brain during the autopsy, according to the report, obtained by Hatewatch through an Arizona public records request.
Various body tissue and blood samples were taken during the May 4 autopsy and submitted for toxicology tests, which take some time to complete before the final report was released last week. Those toxicology screens looked for a lengthy list of chemicals and drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, codeine and antidepressants, with the finding of 鈥渘one detected,鈥� the report says.
At the , the 39-year-old Ready was running for sheriff of Pinal County, Ariz., billing himself as the 鈥渃ommon sense choice鈥� to stand up to 鈥渢he horrific reality of terrible violence associated with illegal immigration.鈥� For reasons that remain unexplained, he murdered his girlfriend and then three others before killing himself.
Ready, a former Marine who was twice court-martialed for bad conduct, went on to become a leader of the National Socialist Movement, an explicitly neo-Nazi group, before forming the militia-like group U.S. Border Guard. Heavily armed, Ready and others in his group conducted patrols on the U.S. border in an attempt to apprehend undocumented immigrants. That activity made Ready the focus of an FBI , but no charges were ever brought against him.
Before committing suicide at a home in Gilbert, Ready shot and killed his girlfriend, Lisa Lynn Mederos, 47; her daughter, Amber Nieve Mederos, 23; the daughter鈥檚 boyfriend, Jim Franklin Hiott, and Amber鈥檚 15-month-old baby girl, Lilly Lynn Mederos. Investigators later found chemicals and military-grade munitions that apparently belonged to Ready at the residence.
鈥淎pparently, the decedent [Ready] has a history of domestic violence with his girlfriend, who he lived with,鈥� the medical examiner鈥檚 report said.
