Freehold Twp Couple Dead In Murder-Suicide: Prosecutor

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, NJ — The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office has labeled the death of a Freehold Township couple a murder-suicide, as authorities continue to investigate in the death of a woman who was the former chair of the Freehold Township Education Foundation.

In a statement issued late Monday afternoon, the prosecutor's office confirmed that Denise Bartone was killed inside the family's Koster Drive home in Freehold Township.

"A vehicle registered to the family was discovered parked on the Thomas Edison Memorial Bridge in Woodbridge early this morning," the prosecutor's office said. "Kenneth Bartone, the husband of the victim, was found floating in the Raritan River this afternoon, dead of an apparent suicide. We do not believe there is any further danger to the public."

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Andrea Tozzi of the prosecutor's office at 1-800-733-7443, or Freehold Township Police Detective James Burdge at 732-462-7908.

Denise A. Bartone, 48, was the most recent past chair of the Freehold Township Education Foundation, which raised funds for various needs within the Freehold Township's kindergarten-through-8th grade schools.

Kenneth J. Bartone, 53, was pulled from the Raritan River around 1:50 p.m., according to an NBC New York report.

Neighbors told the Asbury Park Press that authorities were at the home before 7:30 a.m. Ed Coughlin, who told APP.com he did not know the family well, saw police at the home when he left for work Monday morning.

Denise Bartone's Twitter account showed she had been very active in her role as the chair of the Freehold Township Education Foundation, promoting fundraisers and urging people to get involved with the district's schools. The foundation's Twitter accound showed her making a number of check presentations, including one for $20,000 to help the district's efforts to create makerspaces in all of the elementary and middle schools in 2018.

A profile page for Denise Bartone on the Freehold Township Education Foundation website had been wiped clean as of late Monday morning, but traces remaining on social media said she was the immediate past chair. Her social media accounts also showed the couple had three daughters.

No social media accounts could be located for Kenneth J. Bartone.

Freehold Township Superintedent Neil Dickstein, whose letter to parents about the tragedy first confirmed Denise Bartone's identity, said counseling resources available in the district's schools, where the Bartones' daughters had been students, on Tuesday.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office statement said the investigation includes assistance from the , Freehold Township Police Department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, New Jersey State Police, the Woodbridge Police Department and the Sayreville Police Department.

This is a developing story and will be updated as details become available.

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Main photo via NBC New York reporter Brian Thompson, published with permission; secondary photo via Google Maps of the home where the death investigation is underway.