Three people were found dead in a home on Wild Azalea Lane, off Route 518 near Blawenburg, in Montgomery Township in a suspected murder-suicide on Oct. 2.
Two women were found in separate bedrooms in the house and appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds, according to published reports in The Montgomery News.
A man was found in the house who apparently shot himself to death. He had a gun in his possession when his body was discovered, published reports said.
All were pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerset, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. Their identities have not been released, pending positive identification.
The Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office will perform a postmortem examination to make positive identification of the victims and to determine the cause and manner of their deaths.
The chain of events that led to the discovery of the victims began on Sept. 30, when Somerset County dispatch received a call at 4:30 a.m. for a residential alarm with a glass break at 39 Wild Azalea Lane, published reports said.
Somerset County dispatch was contacted the following day on Oct. 1 at about 3 p.m. for a welfare check. A neighbor reported that mail had piled up in the mailbox and the occupants had not responded to phone calls or text messages for some time.
Montgomery Township police officers were sent to the house, but they were unsuccessful in contacting the occupants. Police then launched an investigation into the occupants’ whereabouts, the prosecutor’s office said.
Police officers went back to the house on Oct. 2 at 5:52 p.m. and made entry into the house, and that’s when the bodies were discovered.
The incident is under investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Montgomery Township Police Department.
Anyone with information about it should contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the Montgomery Township Police Department at 908-359-3222, or OPS Tips.
OPS Tips allows persons to enter SCPO.TIPS at the URL into the address bar of any internet-enabled device to provide anonymous reports, including videos and photos.
Information also can be provided through the Somerset County Tipline at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All tips will be kept confidential.
