Delaware County man charged with killing mother of 8-year-old son and her mother in Willingboro

A Delaware County man has been charged with killing the mother of their 8-year-old son and the woman’s mother during a burglary at their Willingboro home, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Capt. Ian Bucs, as Willingboro Township public. safety director, announced Saturday.

Junior Edwards, 37, of Lansdowne, was charged with two counts of murder, as well as burglary and weapons charges, authorities said. He was arrested Friday in Philadelphia on unrelated charges, authorities said.

Edwards is accused of shooting Catherine Nunez, 33, and her mother, Marisol Nunez, 54, authorities said. Both had been shot multiple times and were found in an upstairs bedroom in their home in the Hawthorne Park section of Willingboro, authorities said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

A son Edwards and Catherine Nunez have together was home when the shootings occurred but was not physically injured, authorities said. Edwards was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The child was placed with State Division of Child Protection and Permanencyaccording to Joel Bewley, spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office.

A possible motive for the shootings has not been released. Edwards and Catherine Nunez have not been romantically involved for some time, Bewley said.

Police were dispatched to the home in the first block of Harrington Circle around 4 a.m. Wednesday on a 911 call from Catherine Nunez for a report of a burglary in progress, Bewley said. The intruder broke a first-floor window and entered the home, authorities said. A gun believed to be used in the killings was found outside, authorities said.

Edwards is being held in Pennsylvania, Bewley said. The Burlington County District Attorney plans to seek his extradition to New Jersey on the murder charges, he said.