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To most outsiders, nothing seemed amiss between Lisa Mederos andJ.T. Ready. But behind closed doors, friends say, Ready was cruel andcontrolling, once pouring a bottle of water over Mederos' headbecause it was the wrong brand and another time ordering herbeloved daughters to find new homes. Photos Police confident domestic violence triggered killings Horror in wake of vigilante's final act Ready left tracks in politics Ready photos Pearce statement Despite outside appearances, Mederos, 47, was a domestic-violencevictim, Gilbert police said. She had called police twice aboutdomestic violence, the first time in February, when she reportedlycomplained that Ready had choked her six months earlier, policesaid. The report went nowhere, police said, because they had noprobable cause for an arrest. The second time would be her last: She called police in the momentsbefore she and three other members of her household were slainWednesday. Ready, the suspected shooter, killed himself, policesaid. Neighbors and friends described Mederos as a stay-at-homegrandmother who adored walking and decorating the house in the 500block of Tumbleweed Road she had lived in for about 20 years. Ready was a gun-toting member of the far-right National SocialistMovement who wore fatigues around the house, amassed a grenadestockpile and led armed vigilante patrols to the border. Their public demeanor was unremarkable, neighbors said. Ready had moved into Mederos' home about six months ago, six monthsafter the couple met. Neighbors reported the two smiled at them asthey would pull into their driveway. They exchanged pleasantries as they walked her dog and oftenshopped together, especially for antiques, neighbors said. But others had noticed troubling signs before gunshots pierced thequiet of the neighborhood around 1 p.m. Wednesday and shattered theassumptions of acquaintances. The dead included three generations of the Mederos family: Lisa,her daughter Amber, 23, and her 15-month-old granddaughter, Lilly.Amber's fiance, Jim Hiott, 24, was also slain. Gilbert police said Ready, 39, who had a history of souredrelationships, went on a rampage, shooting everyone in sight, thenhimself. Moments before the shooting, Mederos had called 911 to report adomestic-violence incident, police said. The relationship between Ready and Mederos displayed a familiarpattern, said Carl Mangold, a licensed social worker who hascounseled more than 3,500 men convicted of abuse in Arizona: A manprone to violence blames the victim; she attempts to resist, andhis abuse escalates; she attempts to end the relationship, and hepunishes her for her defiance. "Our investigation is directing us to murder-suicide," police Sgt.Bill Balafas said Thursday. "There is no indication of outsideplayers at all." Mederos may not have known Ready's troubled past with women, whichincluded a Scottsdale woman who filed an order of protectionagainst him in 2009 and another woman in Ready's Mesa apartmentcomplex who in 2003 accused him of stalking, spying, frequentlycalling and trying to kiss her. Mederos was lonely and ready for love when she met Ready at anAutoZone near her home, according to close friends and neighbors. She had already undergone two major hardships. The first was her divorce about six years ago from Hugo Mederos,the father of her daughters. "She took it really, really hard," said Brandon Castle of AhwatukeeFoothills, the estranged husband of Amber, his high-schoolsweetheart. Then, in January 2008, she almost perished when a car hit her anddaughter Brittany as they walked on Cooper Road, according toCastle and one of Lisa's close neighbors. Lisa spent a year in the hospital, and even after she was released,needed a wheelchair and couldn't swallow for a long time, neighborssaid. Brittany also was injured but not as badly. "Amber was the sweetest girl ever," said Heather Morton, Amber'sfriend and former Wendy's co-worker. "After her mom was hit by acar, she would push her in her wheelchair up and down Cooper Road.She took care of both of them, her mom and Brittany." When Lisa was fit enough to emerge from the wheelchair and resumewalking about two years ago, she sometimes stopped at the AutoZone,Morton and Castle said. She was ready to meet a man, friends said, and even indicated for awhile on her Facebook page that she was looking for one. She was giving and kind, but also needy and lonely, and hadn't hada sweetheart since Hugo, Castle and a neighbor said. When she met Ready, she glowed like a schoolgirl, said theneighbor, who declined to give her name for this story. "She was happy to introduce me to him," the neighbor said. Amber, her daughter Lilly, and her sister Brittany were living withLisa when Ready moved in. Ready had been fired from his AutoZone job and lost his apartment,friends and neighbors said. Lisa supported him. It didn't take long for the girls to become disenchanted, Mortonand Castle said. "They hated him," Castle said. "They were always nervous aroundhim." Ready, an admitted White supremacist, often behaved in a racistmanner toward Lilly, who was half-Latino, calling her "50 percentugly," Morton said. Ready also was short-tempered, cocky, cruel and controlling, Castleand Morton said. Once, when Lisa bought him the wrong kind of bottled water, hepoured it on her head, said Richard Rory, a friend of Morton's andAmber's. He timed the girls' showers, ordering them to hurry up, Mortonsaid. "He's living there for free. He's telling her children how longthey can shower," Morton said. "He does nothing for her." Several months ago, Ready delivered a crushing blow, splitting thefamily apart as domestic-violence offenders are known to do: Hetold Amber and Brittany they had to move out, and both girls left,Castle and other friends said. "He was such a horrible person," Castle said. "He was a scaryperson. He was short-tempered." Ready had a history of ugly relationships, according to courtrecords and a woman who said she fled Arizona in fear of Ready in2003. Court records show that a Scottsdale woman filed an order ofprotection against Ready in 2009 and that Ready responded with hisown protection order against her. Regina Madrigal, 30, reported that she and Ready lived in the sameMesa Drive apartment complex and that Ready "became obsessed" withher. He would sneak up on her, call her, spy on her and tell her heknew the color of underwear she had on, Madrigal said. "He was always telling me about plans for killing people," shesaid. "He had lots of guns in the house. ... He always believed thegovernment was conspiring." Murder-suicide is often the result of escalating domestic violence,said Mangold, the social worker. The abuser kills to keep the womanfrom leaving and kills himself to avoid a long prison term. Republic reporters Dennis Wagner, Karina Bland, Hayley Ringle andJim Walsh contributed to this article. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Sauna Felt , China White Wool Felt, and more. For more , please visit Wool Felt Sheets today!
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