A double homicide is under investigation in New Jersey, the Union County prosecutor's office confirmed Thursday -- and relatives of the victims say they include a 9-year-old girl and her mother.
Prosecutors declined to provide additional details on the two people discovered dead in the Roselle home on Wednesday. It was that same day when young Kelsey Morrison did not show up for school — and no one had heard from her mother, 45-year-old Keisha Morrison.
Keisha's husband Gary raced home to investigate and found bloody sheets in his bedroom, his sister Atasha Scott told NBC New York. Police responded to the home and discovered the bodies of the mother and daughter under a bed, with Scott saying the killer "wrapped them up in bed sheets, stuffed them under my niece's bed."
The devastated husband and father found what appeared to be the murder weapon, a bloody axe, stuffed between two mattresses in his bedroom. The Union County prosecutor's office said that autopsies conducted Thursday confirmed the manner of death was homicide.
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"On the floor, it seemed like somebody was trying to clean up blood, like it was swirled around," Scott told NBC New York.
Meanwhile, as police arrived at the home, Gary Morrison's brother took off in Keisha's brand new BMW, which she had just bought a week ago. A law enforcement source said police tracked the car to Maryland, where Evory Morrison was arrested for stealing the car.
He had been living in the basement of the home for more than two years, but was recently told to move out. The family has declined to state the reason behind that decision, for now, though he hadn't moved out yet and was home when his brother got back on Wednesday.
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"I can’t go into details exactly what occurred, but I can tell you she was uncomfortable and neither were nieces with him being in the home, in the basement," Scott said.
The family appeared to be suspicious of the brother, and said he may have been envious of Gary's life.
"[Keisha's] birthday just passed on the 6th. We went partying — she, my brother and I — for her birthday, her birthday month. This guy was jealous of my brother and what he had. He wanted what he had," said Scott, who added that Kelsey would have turned 10 years old on Sunday.
"My daughter and her are best friends, I don’t know what I’m going to tell her," she said.
Chopper 4 captured an active scene at the private residence, with about a half-dozen cars lining the block outside it and a black SUV parked in the driveway. Yellow caution tape cordoned off the sprawling front lawn as investigators gathered in the street.
A crime had been established at the home for two days, but the impact of what happened there was still unfolding for everyone impacted.
"Like a Lifetime movie. I feel like I’m in 'The Twilight Zone' right now," said Scott.
The Union County prosecutor's office said an investigation was ongoing.
