UPDATE: Mother and kids, ages 5 and 2, found dead ID’d by family. She had restraining order against husband.

Salem County authorities are investigating the discoveries of four bodies, including two children found at a residence in Penns Grove.

A passerby reported seeing what appeared to be a dead body in the woods off Sportsman Road in Carneys Point Township on Wednesday morning, the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Officers found a man dead of what appeared to be a suicide, the office said. Officers then checked the man’s Penns Grove address a short distance away, and found a woman and two small children dead.

Authorities did not elaborate on their relationship, although a family member and residents described them as a family with a young son and daughter.

Penns Grove Police Chief Patrick Riley said Wednesday night the man was the subject of a restraining order. He declined to comment further.

The woman and children were found in an apartment in the Penns Grove Gardens complex, where police officers had sectioned off a parking lot with yellow crime scene tape. A New Jersey State Police crime scene van was parked in front of one of the apartments Wednesday afternoon.

A woman who lives at the apartments described the apparent victims as a family. She met the mother while doing laundry. “She was young. She said she was new. She said she had kids and stayed home,” the woman, who asked that her name not be published, told NJ Advance Media.

“I just can’t believe this. This is crazy. It’s the times we’re living in," the resident said.

Last year, the apartment complex was the scene of a murder. Ordale R. Telfair is charged with shooting Tayshon Hayward, 26, on May 23, 2019 during a dispute. Telfair, 38, is in custody awaiting trial.

Meanwhile, several police vehicles remained on Sportsman Road as well.

Linda Dyson, who lives nearby, said her neighbor found he man’s body while taking a walk. She then came upon the scene.

“I could tell it was a young person. He looked to be about my son’s age. I thought ‘Oh my God.’ Here is a mother’s son out here,” Dyson said.

Dyson, a Carneys Point resident for 38 years, said the area is usually quiet and the most excitement are drivers who run into the woods from state troopers during traffic stops on the nearby New Jersey Turnpike.

Investigators are working to inform family members of the deaths, the office said. No other information was made public.

Investigators on Sportsman Road in Carneys Point, NJ on Feb. 5, 2020. A man's body was found nearby in the woods.(Chris Franklin | NJ Advance Media)

Police vehicles on Sportsman Road in Carneys Point, NJ on Feb. 5, 2020.(Chris Franklin | NJ Advance Media)

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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