Grief, Tributes For 2 Moms Found Dead In Union Co. Restaurant

UNION COUNTY, NJ — "They were our mothers," wrote a relative about the two women found dead in a New Jersey restaurant Tuesday.

One had 11 children; the other had four, family members said.

Now family members of the two women found dead in a Hillside restaurant on Tuesday are asking for donations, saying that the deaths of the two sisters have left 14 children motherless.

The deaths of the two women were ruled to be homicides, said the Union County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.

The women were found a day after police discovered the body of 45-year-old restaurant owner Akanni A. Martin in a rental car in Union Township. The prosecutor's office said Martin was dead of a gunshot.

They said they do not believe foul play was involved in his death, and the weapon was found in the car. They declined to comment further.

One of the women found at the restaurant, Karen A. Lemaitre, 39, was the mother of Martin's children and lived with him in Hillside.

The other woman was her sister, Wanita A. Joffer, 41.

They were found in K&K Jamaican restaurant near the Newark border.

A GoFundMe set up by a relative of the two women on Thursday night said, "We are a family saddened by the news. Two mothers, two sisters, two wives. Two daughters were brutally murdered. They were our mothers."

The person added, "Wanita and Karen died on Saturday night they were brutally murdered and beaten/suffocated ... leaving behind Karen — four kids, three being under age — and Wanita, 11 kids and eight of them being under age, with no mother."

She added, "We are asking for any help you can provide during this rough time any donations will go to funeral arrangements and to help both families to pay other expenses."

As of Friday morning, $4,700 had been donated toward the $50,000 goal.

'Just a wonderful woman'

"Heard the news and was completely heartbroken," wrote a woman on the fundraising page. "Karen is one of my classmates in nursing school. From day one she’s been helping me in school, keeping me motivated, being supportive. Just a wonderful woman. God bless and protect her family!"

A man wrote, "Just Because We Dont Talk On A Day To Day Basis Don't Mean I Can't Help."

A friend named Kris said, "I met Karen my first day of orientation in nursing school. She literally picked me out, and said 'hey, you and me are friends now.' I remember the first few days of school she asked hey where are you eating lunch? And when I said I didn’t know, she bluntly said 'get in my car!!! We’re getting Chinese!' Karen had an amazing soul."

Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay Ruotolo's office said Wednesday that on Monday morning, Union Township police noticed a vehicle parked in the rear lot of an Enterprise Rent-A-Car facility in Union. That's where they found 45-year-old Martin inside with a gunshot wound to the head. READ MORE: 2 Dead Inside Union Co. Restaurant After Owner's Body Found: Cops

When Union Township police visited Martin's home on Summit Avenue in Hillside to notify next of kin, they determined that "two individuals close to Martin" were missing, the Prosecutor's Office said.

Tuesday, police found the women at K & K Jamaican Restaurant, which he co-owns, on the same street.

"At this time, there is no known further threat to the community," the Prosecutor's Office said, language often used in domestic violence killings if the perpetrator is not at large.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233 or via the website (click here), which allows for chatting and texting options.

The matter remains under active investigation, led by the Union County Homicide Task Force with assistance from members of the Union Township Police Department, Hillside Police Department, and Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit.

Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Johnny Ho at 908-403-8271 or Detective Lamar Hartsfield at 908-451-1873.

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