Huge NJ home explosion ruled murder-suicide after one body found with bullet to the head
The New Jersey home that exploded with a man and a woman inside was the shocking end of a murder-suicide, according to authorities who found one of the victims had been shot in the head.
The bodies of the victims, who have not yet been publicly identified, were recovered from the burnt-out home after the fiery blast rocked Tranquility Court in Gloucester County’s Washington Township early Sunday.
Investigators have since revealed the woman’s charred remains were located in a bed and that she had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Her death has since been ruled a homicide.
Meanwhile, the man was found in the living room with a handgun next to his body, according to prosecutors.
A medical examiner ruled his death as a suicide by fire.
“The investigation conducted in the aftermath of the fire revealed the presence of an accelerant and that the home’s gas line had been tampered with, enabling unrestricted flow of natural gas into the home’s interior,” a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
A motive for the tragedy wasn’t immediately clear.
The identities of the two people were also being withheld pending official confirmation by the medical examiner, prosecutors said.
The tragedy unfolded around 2 a.m. when police received a flurry of 911 calls from neighbors who reported hearing what sounded like a bomb exploding.
Doorbell footage from various properties captured the moment the home on Tranquility Court exploded — sending fireballs and plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
“I was terrified, absolutely terrified,” neighbor . “Because I never heard an explosion like that in my life, and it just was, the house was, basically, burning to the ground very, very quickly.”
Another resident, Jimmy Gibson, that he couldn’t believe how fast the house went up in flames after the initial explosion, which he described as “a real loud boom.”
“The whole house was in flames already, that fast as soon as the explosion happened,” he said.
Two nearby houses were also damaged in the fire, authorities said.
The bodies of the victims were retrieved from the home after the inferno was doused by first responders.
