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What happened to Catherine and Marisol Nunez

Umito November 5, 2024

WILLINGBORO — An 8-year-old boy survived a pre-dawn attack that left his mother and grandmother dead, authorities say.

The outbreak of domestic violence claimed the lives of Catherine Nunez, 33, and her mother, Marisol “Morena” Nunez, 54, in the young woman’s home on Harrington Circle, according to the County Prosecutor’s Office. Burlington.

Authorities said the shooter was Junior Edwards, 37, a Pennsylvania man who was the father of Catherine Nunez’s son. He is being held in Philadelphia, awaiting extradition to New Jersey.

Marisol Nunez was visiting from her home in New York when Edwards allegedly broke a first-floor window to enter her daughter’s home, a family member said.

Edwards allegedly shot both victims in an upstairs bedroom.

The family member described Edwards as “a monster who had repeatedly threatened them.”

“The American dream has turned into the American nightmare,” said Wilson Nunez, brother of Marisol Nunez and uncle of Catherine Nunez.

He said that Catherine Nunez’s job at a utility company required her to work in New York one day a week, and that Marisol would then stay overnight to help care for her grandson at her mother’s home. girl.

Marisol Nunez, a hotel employee for more than 24 years, had “put her life on hold to take care of her own mother Carmen, her daughter Catherine and her grandson Elohim,” he explained.

“She was called ‘the Calendar’ because she knew all the birth dates in the family by heart and made it a point to inform everyone else in the family,” he said.

He added that Catherine Nunez “worked hard to give her son a better life (and) accomplished so much while being a single mother with the help of Marisol and Carmen.”

“Catherine touched the lives of many people with her bubbly personality,” Nunez wrote in an email. “…She inspired and motivated so many of her friends despite everything that was going on in her personal life.”

A candlelight vigil was held Saturday evening in front of the Harrington Circle home.

“We’re here to shower love on this family,” said Kelly Logan, an anti-violence activist from Willingboro who was among about 50 attendees.

A GoFundMe appeal The search for contributions for funeral expenses had raised more than $25,000 as of Sunday evening.

“This loss has devastated our family and reminds us how fragile life can be,” says the appeal, which notes that the child now faces “a bitter healing journey.”

Police found the victims’ bodies after responding to a call about an apparent burglary in progress. The suspected murder weapon was found outside the home in the Hawthorne Park neighborhood.

Edwards, a Lansdowne resident, was charged while in custody on unrelated allegations in Philadelphia, the district attorney’s office said.

He is also charged with burglary and home invasion with a firearm, endangering the welfare of a child and weapons offenses.

The accusations are just allegations. Edwards was not convicted in that case.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter at the Courier-Post, the Burlington County Times and the Daily Journal. Email: [email protected].