The standoff, which ended Sunday afternoon, began when du Pont, 57, allegedly shot Schultz with a .38-caliber handgun. Du Pont had roamed the halls of his mansion, armed and alone, talking hourly -- and, police said, "cordially" -- with law enforcement negotiators by telephone. Outside, more than 75 police ringed the estate, shutting off traffic on the four-lane highway that fronts his property, in part because of the extensive arsenal of high-powered weaponry and ammunition, including a military armored personnel carrier, that the eccentric scion was known to own.
Just after 3 p.m. Sunday, du Pont left the house to fix a hot water boiler that, unbeknownst to him, police had turned off late Friday night in an effort to freeze him out. As he emerged, he was overwhelmed by a SWAT team hiding in the woods on his property.
"There were no shots fired, and no one was injured," said Newtown Township Police Chief Michael Mallon.
Du Pont arrived at the police station in handcuffs. Later, dressed in a running suit, he was arraigned on nine charges, including first-degree murder, then held in the county jail pending a preliminary hearing Thursday.
The arrest ended a bizarre saga centered on the strange world that du Pont, an heir to the DuPont chemical fortune, had constructed on the grounds of his estate. A gun fancier, expert marksman, wrestling enthusiast, helicopter pilot and onetime volunteer policeman, du Pont lived in a huge mansion.
Du Pont made a brand new, $600,000, 14,000-square-foot athletic training center, the Foxcatcher National Training Center, available to many of the country's best amateur wrestlers. He let them live in guest houses and reportedly paid them $300 a week.
One of those wrestlers was Dave Schultz, 36, who was shot to death Friday afternoon on the driveway of a guest house where he lived with his wife, Nancy, and two children, Alexander, 9, and Danielle, 6.
Nancy Schultz, accompanied by the children, said: "Our family is devastated and saddened by Dave's brutal, unexpected loss. He was not only a world-class athlete, coach and mentor, but a devoted and loving father to our children and husband to me for the past 14 years."
She did not discuss the circumstances of the case, but an affidavit said she saw du Pont fire the third and final shot into her husband's body after he had fallen. Du Pont also pointed the .38 caliber revolver at her, the affidavit said.
Sunday night, police would not comment about a motive. But friends and relatives said du Pont had been behaving increasingly erratically lately, twice driving a car into a pond on his estate and ordering wrestlers at his training center to chase ghosts from his property and shoot at Nazis he was convinced were training to break into his house.
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