Authorities in New Jersey are investigating a double homicide in which a 9-year-old girl and her mother were found dead in their Roselle home, the Union County prosecutor’s office confirmed on Thursday. The victims have been identified as Kelsey Morrison and her 45-year-old mother, Keisha Morrison.
The case came to light when Kelsey did not attend school on Wednesday, and no one had been able to contact her mother. Keisha’s husband, Gary, rushed home to check on them and discovered bloody sheets in the bedroom. Police arrived at the scene and found the bodies of the mother and daughter wrapped in bedsheets and hidden beneath a bed.
A bloody axe, believed to be the murder weapon, was found between two mattresses in the bedroom. Autopsies conducted on Thursday confirmed that the cause of death was homicide. Scott mentioned that it seemed as if someone had tried to clean up blood from the floor.
While police were at the scene, Gary’s brother, Evory Morrison, fled in Keisha’s newly purchased BMW. Law enforcement sources said that the car was tracked to Maryland, where Evory was arrested for stealing the vehicle. He had been living in the basement of the family home for over two years but was recently asked to leave. The family has not yet revealed the reason for this decision, although Scott said that Keisha and Kelsey were uncomfortable with him living in the house.
The investigation is still ongoing, and the full extent of the tragic events continues to unfold for those affected by the double homicide.