TheDuke
01-07-2007, 05:26 PM
Seen this today in the paper, terrible.
here is the link to the article http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701070420
Police find 3 bodies in Ocean Gate
Investigated as murder-suicide
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/7/07
BY ZACH PATBERG
STAFF WRITER
OCEAN GATE — Police found the bodies of a 7-year-old boy, his mother and his stepfather inside their family home Saturday afternoon in what appears to be a murder-suicide, authorities said.
The stepfather, Jeff Eyerly, 46, had hanged himself over the staircase between the first and second floor, police said. The boy, Kyle Peckham, was found in a bedroom, while his mother, Carol Ann Peckham, lay dead in the rear living area.
It was unclear late Saturday what caused the death of the mother and son. The event shook this small neighborhood teeming with elementary-age children.
Ocean Gate acting Police Chief Reece J. Fisher said there was no evidence of trauma to the bodies and that no weapons were found. He said a small amount of blood was discovered at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled today.
Although authorities are treating this as a double homicide and suicide, they stopped short of explicitly citing Eyerly as the murderer.
"It's one of the things we're investigating," Fisher said.
Carol Ann Peckham's mother and brother discovered the bodies earlier that morning when they arrived at the white two-story home on East Point Pleasant Avenue to take the family out to breakfast, said a neighbor, Stephanie Dalton, who lives with her husband, Joe, across the street.
"She came running over screaming, "Joe! Joe!' " said Dalton, who knows the Peckham family from church at St. Barnabas in the Bayville section of Berkeley. "We ran outside, and she was telling us hysterically what she saw and that she needed help."
As Stephanie Dalton called 911, her husband followed the grandmother to the house.
"At that point it was too late," she said.
Lee Restino, who lives two houses away from the family, said she saw from her side porch the brother coming down the stairs yelling for someone to call 911.
Ocean Gate police responded to the brother's 911 call at 12:36 p.m.
As investigators combed through evidence at the roped-off crime scene, dozens of residents gathered around the barricades set up at Asbury and Ocean Gate avenues. Some held expressions of sheer disbelief at what happened.
Melissa Solis said she would often meet Carol Ann Peckham at Ocean Gate School when picking up her daughter,Brittney, who was in first grade with Kyle. One day, as the two children played together after school, Carol Ann Peckham told Solis that she had divorced Kyle's father shortly after he was born.
"It was just her and Kyle for a while, so that made them very close. You could see that," Solis said. "Then she met (Eyerly), and eventually Kyle grew so close to him, also to the point where he was calling him Daddy."
Fisher said the couple was married in April 2006. Police are looking for Kyle's biological father.
Solis described Kyle as a sensitive boy with fragile feelings.
"In school at first it was hard for him to make friends," she said. "That's how my daughter was also, so the two just clicked."
Eyerly himself was popular among co-workers. Patrick Kerwin, who runs an air-conditioning business in Point Pleasant where Eyerly was an installer for about six years, characterized the 6-foot, 225-pound man as a "gentle giant."
"We had him from (when he was) a first-day apprentice. First day in his trade he started with us, and he was the hardest-working guy I ever had," Kerwin said.
A few years ago, Eyerly left the company to start his own business with another co-worker, Daryl Peters. That operation, Peters Heating, eventually failed, however, and he was currently employed at AirTech Air Conditioning & Heating, according to Kerwin's daughter and office manager, Erin Kerwin.
Fisher said there was no record of abuse or domestic disturbance. Although stunned neighbors said they saw no indication that the family had problems, Nichole Benedetto, who lives behind the Peckham house, said she had heard some loud disputes.
"They'd be arguing until 5 in the morning, but that's it," she said.
Benedetto and others said Kyle hadn't been in school for the past week.
"In fact," she said, "I hadn't seen them even come out to walk their dog."
here is the link to the article http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701070420
Police find 3 bodies in Ocean Gate
Investigated as murder-suicide
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/7/07
BY ZACH PATBERG
STAFF WRITER
OCEAN GATE — Police found the bodies of a 7-year-old boy, his mother and his stepfather inside their family home Saturday afternoon in what appears to be a murder-suicide, authorities said.
The stepfather, Jeff Eyerly, 46, had hanged himself over the staircase between the first and second floor, police said. The boy, Kyle Peckham, was found in a bedroom, while his mother, Carol Ann Peckham, lay dead in the rear living area.
It was unclear late Saturday what caused the death of the mother and son. The event shook this small neighborhood teeming with elementary-age children.
Ocean Gate acting Police Chief Reece J. Fisher said there was no evidence of trauma to the bodies and that no weapons were found. He said a small amount of blood was discovered at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled today.
Although authorities are treating this as a double homicide and suicide, they stopped short of explicitly citing Eyerly as the murderer.
"It's one of the things we're investigating," Fisher said.
Carol Ann Peckham's mother and brother discovered the bodies earlier that morning when they arrived at the white two-story home on East Point Pleasant Avenue to take the family out to breakfast, said a neighbor, Stephanie Dalton, who lives with her husband, Joe, across the street.
"She came running over screaming, "Joe! Joe!' " said Dalton, who knows the Peckham family from church at St. Barnabas in the Bayville section of Berkeley. "We ran outside, and she was telling us hysterically what she saw and that she needed help."
As Stephanie Dalton called 911, her husband followed the grandmother to the house.
"At that point it was too late," she said.
Lee Restino, who lives two houses away from the family, said she saw from her side porch the brother coming down the stairs yelling for someone to call 911.
Ocean Gate police responded to the brother's 911 call at 12:36 p.m.
As investigators combed through evidence at the roped-off crime scene, dozens of residents gathered around the barricades set up at Asbury and Ocean Gate avenues. Some held expressions of sheer disbelief at what happened.
Melissa Solis said she would often meet Carol Ann Peckham at Ocean Gate School when picking up her daughter,Brittney, who was in first grade with Kyle. One day, as the two children played together after school, Carol Ann Peckham told Solis that she had divorced Kyle's father shortly after he was born.
"It was just her and Kyle for a while, so that made them very close. You could see that," Solis said. "Then she met (Eyerly), and eventually Kyle grew so close to him, also to the point where he was calling him Daddy."
Fisher said the couple was married in April 2006. Police are looking for Kyle's biological father.
Solis described Kyle as a sensitive boy with fragile feelings.
"In school at first it was hard for him to make friends," she said. "That's how my daughter was also, so the two just clicked."
Eyerly himself was popular among co-workers. Patrick Kerwin, who runs an air-conditioning business in Point Pleasant where Eyerly was an installer for about six years, characterized the 6-foot, 225-pound man as a "gentle giant."
"We had him from (when he was) a first-day apprentice. First day in his trade he started with us, and he was the hardest-working guy I ever had," Kerwin said.
A few years ago, Eyerly left the company to start his own business with another co-worker, Daryl Peters. That operation, Peters Heating, eventually failed, however, and he was currently employed at AirTech Air Conditioning & Heating, according to Kerwin's daughter and office manager, Erin Kerwin.
Fisher said there was no record of abuse or domestic disturbance. Although stunned neighbors said they saw no indication that the family had problems, Nichole Benedetto, who lives behind the Peckham house, said she had heard some loud disputes.
"They'd be arguing until 5 in the morning, but that's it," she said.
Benedetto and others said Kyle hadn't been in school for the past week.
"In fact," she said, "I hadn't seen them even come out to walk their dog."