[NJ] Not forgotten: Police say Officer Meese and Lorena's deaths were self-inflicted - 2001

Although arriving police officers heard 1 gunshot from inside the home, the deaths of Middle Township Police Sgt. Merrill Meese and his wife Lorena were said to be a "double-suicide." Lorena was a Mexican native who worked as a nurse at a Cape May Court House hospital. Their 3 year old was found in the house unharmed.

SHOT DEAD; SUICIDE SUSPECTED: OFFICER, ACCUSED WIFE ARE FOUND

south jersey news in brief

Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa.

Jan 25, 2001. pg. B.6

[Excerpt] A veteran police officer and his wife, both fatally shot in the head, were found in their home by police investigating allegations of child endangerment, authorities said yesterday. Sgt. Merrill Meese Jr., 40, a 14-year veteran of the Middle Township Police Department, and Lorena Meese, 36, apparently committed suicide, said David E. Blaker, acting Cape May County prosecutor...

OFFICER AND WIFE DIED JUST AS POLICE ARRIVED OFFICERS PROBING AN ALLEGATION OF CHILD ABUSE HEARD A SHOT AFTER KNOCKING. THE DEATHS HAVE BEEN RULED SUICIDES

Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa

Amy S Rosenberg

Jan 26, 2001. pg. B.7

[Excerpts] "The officers went to the house, heard a gunshot, and broke in the front door," said James E. Rybicki, chief of detectives with the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office. "They found both deceased in the bathroom of the residence. It appears that both died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds"... Meese was a 14-year veteran of the Middle Township Police Department, where he had been assigned to the patrol division, supervising a motorcycle unit. The flag outside the police station in Cape May Court House was at half-staff yesterday, and black bunting was draped over the doorway. Chief William Hevener declined to comment, instead handing out a one-page summary of Meese's career as a police officer. Meese also had served as an assistant team leader in the SWAT unit, and had attended numerous accident-investigation schools as part of his training for the township, which is west of the 10-mile marker of the Garden State Parkway... Rybicki, of the Prosecutor's Office, said officers had knocked on the door before the gunfire was heard, but he would not say if the Meeses were aware of the officers' presence or the reason for their showing up at their home...

MIDDLE TWP. POLICE SERGEANT AND WIFE TAKE OWN LIVES

Couple was focus of child-endangerment investigation

[Excerpts] A township police sergeant and his wife died in what investigators say was an apparent double suicide Tuesday night, just as police arrived at the couple's home to investigate allegations of child endangerment. Merrill Meese Jr., 40, and his wife, Lorena, 36, were found dead after police heard a gunshot as they walked to the door of the couple's home in the Green Creek section of the township, police said. Acting Cape May County Prosecutor David E. Blaker said the allegations of child endangerment involved Lorena Meese, but he declined to provide details... Officers had no plans to arrest or press charges but only to ask questions when they arrived at the couple's Devane Street home at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Just after arriving, the officers heard a gunshot from inside the home, according to police. They then forced their way into the home through the locked front door and found the couple dead of gunshot wounds to the head... Police also refused to release information on what weapon was used, whether it was a police service weapon and whether other weapons were present in the home... Meese was a 14-year veteran of the department and an active member of the local Police Benevolent Association. The flag in front of the police department was flown at half-mast Wednesday, and draped over the front entrance was a simple, black cloth.

PW'S LOOK AT THE WEEK'S MISDEEDS.

Philadelphia Weekly

by Brian Hickey

archives 2001 » jan. 31st

[Excerpts] A TOUCHY SITUATION Last week, police in Cape May County arrived at the home of a fellow officer, 40-year-old Merrill Meese Jr., to charge Meese's wife with a child-endangerment offense. They were walking to the front door when they were startled by a single gunshot. Once inside, they discovered the bodies of both Meese and his wife, Lorena. The couple's three-year-old son was found unharmed. The case is mysterious on several fronts. For one, South Jersey investigators refuse to elaborate on the aforementioned child-endangerment offense, except to say that it didn't involve the Meeses' child. Meese's mother defended her son and his wife, a Mexican native who worked as a nurse at a Cape May Court House hospital, in the days following the deaths. For another, if the case is a double suicide--as the investigators are currently calling it--why did the officers hear only one gunshot?...

[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety fatality fatalities lethal murder-suicide new jersey state]