Maplewood Au Pair, Employer Dead In Double Homicide (UPDATED)

MAPLEWOOD, NJ - Maplewood police are investigating an apparent double homicide on Walton Avenue, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

According to a report by NBC4 the victims were a female au pair and her male employer. The report also notes that the incident is not believed to be a murder-suicide and there there does not appear to be a firearm involved.

Read more: Boyfriend Of Au Pair Arrested In Maplewood Double Murder: ECPO

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Maplewood Police Chief Jim DeVaul said police responded to Jefferson Avenue and Walton Road on a report of a woman being assaulted. Officers found an injured woman lying in the street and she was transported to Beth Israel Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 7:17 a.m., according to authorities.

Read more: 'Complete Shock:' Beloved Club Owner Dies In NJ Double-Murder: PD

As Maplewood officers began canvasing the area and they discovered the second victim, unresponsive in a house on Walton Avenue. He was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.

The identity of the victims is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly, of the Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit. Fennelly noted that
the cause of death for both victims will be determined by autopsies conducted at the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Newark.

A report from NJ.com noted a neighbor said there was no commotion or any sign of trouble until police arrived and that it is a very quiet neighborhood.

Caution tape stretched tree-to-tree around a large home on the corner of Walton and Jefferson avenues as one officer stood guard on Saturday, according to nj.com. There were never any signs of trouble at the home, one neighbor told the publication, and the family had moved in roughly a year ago, he estimated.

“They haven’t been here long. I’d drive by and see normal activity, the kids would play, nothing out of the ordinary,” the man told nj.com.

This incident is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, and the Maplewood Police Department and anyone with information is asked to call the Prosecutor’s Tips Line at (877) 847-7432.

This is a developing story and Patch will be updating it as further information becomes available.

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