KINGWOOD — Three people were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide in Kingwood today, authorities said, rattling the rural town where a murder hasn't been reported in more than two decades.

Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III said an unidentified person reported the discovery of a body at the home on Barbertown-Point Breeze Road. Shortly afterward, state troopers from the Kingwood barracks made the grim discovery of the three bodies.

"It appears to be a double-murder-suicide," Kearns said tonight. "But that has yet to be determined, because it’s so early in the investigation."

The identities were not released, but public records show Andrew Wierzbicki, 61; Wanda Wierzbicki, 56; and their son, Gabriel Wierzbicki, 26, lived at the home.

It was unclear who the killer was, when the crime took place or what weapon was used.

Kearns declined to release details on how the three might have been killed.

"They’re going through the house inch-by-inch," Kearns said of detectives on the scene.

Neighbor Kevin Ohler, 40, lives about 500 feet from the Wierzbickis and said he heard what he thought were several gunshots late Wednesday night.

Ohler said around midnight he was asleep on his couch when he was jarred awake by three or four shots. He said there was a pause for a few minutes, then another three to four shots.

As he took out his recycling this morning, he said, he noticed an ambulance at his neighbor’s house and thought back to the noise that woke him and prompted him to lock all the doors.

"It’s really odd that someone would be shooting a gun at midnight," Ohler said as he and his wife, Christina, talked about telling officers on the scene about the gunshots.

"It always seems like in the quiet neighborhoods something does happen," he added.

Along with a couple of businesses, the Wierzbickis’ modest gray house with red shutters is tucked away in a sparsely populated area. The house is set back from the tree-lined road.

Outside today, yellow police tape blocked the driveway where several cars were parked. Some investigators milled about the front of the home while others were farther back combing the inside the house.

The possibility of a murder-suicide unnerved Kingwood, a community of just over 3,800 people. A murder has not been reported in the township in at least 23 years, according to state crime records.

Kingwood Mayor Elaine Niemann, who lives on Barbertown-Point Breeze Road, called the news of the deaths in the Hunterdon County countryside shocking.

"This is not something you expect to hear about from these parts," Niemann said. "It’s terribly sad. Nothing like this has happened. We’ve had several suicides over the last five to seven years, but nothing like this."

By Victoria St. Martin and Bob Considine/The Star-Ledger

Staff writers David Giambusso, Julia Terruso, Jessica Calefati, Richard Khavkine and Stephen Stirling contributed to this report.

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