UPDATE: Man charged with fatally stabbing his mother, grandfather: authorities

SPRINGFIELD -- A woman and her father have been fatally stabbed at their Meckes Street home, officials said.

Roth Brown, 51, and Thomas Brown, 79, were killed, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park and Springfield Police Chief John Cook jointly announced.

Police responded to a request for a welfare check on the home and found the victims' bodies inside early Monday afternoon, Park and Cook said. The Union County Homicide Task Force, the Springfield Police Department and the Union County Sheriff's Office Identification Unit then began to investigate.

Roth Brown graduated from Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield in 1982 and then went to Howard University, said long-time friend Charles Hackley. He said she would have been 52 on June 30.

"She was a good woman," Hackley said.

Thomas Brown ran the funeral home Martin's Home for Service Inc. in Montclair, and the pair lived in the house with Roth Brown's adult son, Hackley said.

Authorities ask anyone with information to call Homicide Task Force Sgt. Michael Manochio at 908-966-2287 or Detective Brendan Sullivan at 908-966-0999.

Union County Crime Stoppers are offering up to $10,000 for relevant information, which can be given anonymously by calling 908-654-TIPS (8477), texting "UCTIP" plus a message to 274637 (CRIMES), or visiting www.uctip.org.

Staff reporters Tom Haydon and Kate Mishkin contributed to this report.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook.