SICKLERVILLE, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A man stabbed his wife to death in their Gloucester Township townhouse that then caught fire early Tuesday morning, police said.
According to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, police responded around 2:30 a.m. to the 100 block of Freedom Way, in the Independence Square townhouse complex, for a report of a stabbing.
Inside the home, authorities found 50-year-old Jerome Morris holding a knife and covered in blood. Officers took him into custody.
Officers then found the stabbing victim, 51-year-old Monica Morris, in a third-floor bedroom with “heavy fire and smoke conditions,” officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three police officers sustained minor injuries while going through the house. Two other adults in the home were able to escape without injury.
Some neighbors were evacuated, but firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
Roy Ramirez, who lives across Freedom Way, said it quickly became apparent that it was more than just a fire.
“I was watching from my house, and then when I saw they were bringing out the body,” he said. “That’s when I tried to go outside to see what’s going on, and then we heard the family crying that ‘he’s crazy, he’s crazy.’”
Jerome Morris has been charged with first-degree murder. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, and additional charges may be filed depending on the outcome.
