FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A man charged with killing his wife and five other people has appeared in Tennessee court by video link from jail.

Jacob Shaffer was handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit when he appeared on screen at today's arraignment. He said only "yes" and shook his head in response to the judge's questions.

Police say the 30-year-old Shaffer began his rampage in Huntsville, Alabama, where he allegedly beat to death an acquaintance. The man was living on the property of a business owned by the family of Shaffer's wife.

Authorities allege Shaffer then headed across the state line into Tennessee, where they say he killed his wife, three of her relatives and a neighbor.

Police have not said how the five were killed or released a full chronology of the killings. Investigators have described the motive only as "domestic." A family friend says Shaffer and his wife were no longer sharing a home.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Police say a deadly weekend rampage that left six dead in Tennessee and Alabama began in Huntsville.

Sgt. Mark Roberts with the Huntsville police said Monday that the first victim was 50-year-old Sidney Wade Dempsey, who worked at Hall Cultured Marble Granite and was an acquaintance of the man arrested in the case, Jacob Shaffer.

Roberts said Dempsey appears to have died from blunt force trauma.

The 30-year-old Shaffer was arraigned Monday in Fayetteville, Tenn., where five of the victims were found Saturday.

Shaffer is charged with killing his 38-year-old wife, Traci Shaffer, her father, brother, teenage son and a neighbor. Shaffer also is charged with the killing in Huntsville, about 30 miles south of Fayetteville.

A family friend said Shaffer had been separated from his wife.

Investigators haven't yet said how the Tennessee victims were killed.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)