Fire Conceals Murder/Suicide, But Not For Long

"HOLMDEL, NJ - A man was shot to death by a woman who set fire to a Holmdel home then fatally shot herself in the house, authorities said today.

"Investigators determined two people found inside the Red Hill Road home Wednesday night were not killed by the fire there but were part of a murder-suicide.

"Authorities have not yet released the names of the dead man and woman or information about their relationship, but said the blaze was deliberately set.

"First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw Jr. would not say whether either of them lived in the single-family home or owned it. He said the woman shot the man to death and after an unspecified period started the fire and then shot herself.

"`All available evidence strongly indicates that this was a murder-suicide,` he said. `The male decedent was the homicide victim. The female decedent appears to have committed the homicide and thereafter both started the fire and shot herself to death.`

"He declined to say when the man was shot and when the fire was started, but said the acts were not contemporaneous.

"Arson investigators found traces of at least one accelerant, Warshaw said. He would not say where the fire started or where the bodies were found.

"Investigators recovered a weapon, but it was not immediately known whether the same weapon was used for both shootings, Warshaw said."

Source: nj.com...