ROSELLE, New Jersey (WABC) — A suspected killer is in custody in Maryland after a mother and daughter were found dead inside a home in Roselle, New Jersey on Wednesday.
The gruesome discovery, made at the West 7th Avenue home, was believed to be the result of a domestic dispute, authorities said.
Atasha Scott, the sister-in-law of the woman who was killed, told Eyewitness News reporter Toni Yates that Keisha Morrison and her 9-year-old daughter were killed with an ax.
Scott says his brother Gary Morrison is loved and adored by his wife Keisha, daughter Kelsey and the rest of his grown children, a blended family.
She says giving was in her heart, which is why she says she didn’t hesitate to let her half-brother Everoy Morrison live in her basement for two years because he was down on his luck.
But the family says things turned ugly when the couple’s older daughters and their mother raised concerns.
“He said he wanted him out, he says he’s leaving before the end of the month,” Scott said. “But he didn’t, he didn’t leave. He murdered them.”
According to the family, Kelsey’s older sisters called their father Gary Morrison Wednesday morning and told him that when they woke up, they discovered blood on the walls of their younger sister’s bedroom.
They say the older sisters were scared and hid in a room while their uncle was upstairs.
The father returned home and after a brief conversation with his brother Everoy, Gary went upstairs to find a bloody ax under a mattress and his wife and daughter both dead and wrapped in sheets under a bed
As police arrived, the family says the uncle fled in his sister-in-law’s car and drove to Maryland, where police confirmed he was arrested.
Eyewitness News is awaiting official confirmation from the Union County District Attorney’s Office on these details, as well as any charges against Everoy Morrison.
Schools in Roselle were briefly locked down Wednesday, with students sheltering in place, out of concern about a possible crime, but the lockdown was lifted in the afternoon after no threat to the public was deemed.
Neighbors said the victims were a loving family and always traveled and did things together.
“It’s heartbreaking, who does this to a family, period, but to a little girl who’s helpless, I’m in the army so it’s hard to see, I’ll never get used to having to deal with something like this”. said the neighbor named Rosie.
Kelsey’s birthday would have been Sunday and she would have turned 10.
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