It’s ‘Shameful’ Grisly Info Was Released After Family Found Dead in Lacey, Prosecutor’s Office Says

LACEY — Many questions remain surrounding the death of a family and their dog at a Jersey Shore community on Wednesday.

A 48-year-old woman and her 7-year-old son were found dead inside the home at 212 Nautilus Boulevard in Lacey Township, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato. The woman's husband, a 51-year-old man, died later at Jersey Shore University Hospital from a self-inflicted wound.

Some reports have described the deaths as a murder-suicide or apparent murder-suicide. The prosecutor's office has stopped short of calling the incident that — it described the woman and child as "victims" but did not explicitly say they were killed by the husband.

At least one news agency in New Jersey published a report, citing unnamed sources, claiming to describe violent and grisly causes of death for those involved. But the prosecutor's office has not confirmed any of that information.

"It is irresponsible to be posting sensitive case information based on some unnamed source," the prosecutor's office said in a statement to the Townsquare News Network. "We ask for patience in allowing the investigation to move forward so that definitive facts can be reported. Out of common decency the next of kin of these tragic victims deserve that respect. It's shameful that any media agency would feel it OK to traumatize a family further for the sake of profiting off of these tragic events or to satisfying someone's morbid curiosity."

Coronato said there is no threat to the community.

A neighbor told the Lacey Patch all seemed normal at the home and appeared to be a "loving family."

"Something happened and somebody snapped," the neighbor told the news site.