FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – The deaths of a husband and wife left Freehold Township residents reeling on Feb. 4.
In a Facebook post, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said it was investigating the homicide of Denise Bartone inside her home at 123 Koster Drive on the morning of Feb. 4.
Later that morning, a vehicle registered to the family was discovered parked on the Thomas Edison Memorial Bridge in Woodbridge, above the Raritan River, according to officials.
Kenneth Bartone, the husband of Denise Bartone, was found floating in the river that afternoon, dead of an apparent suicide, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The prosecutor’s office said there is not believed to be any further danger to the public. The investigation remained ongoing as of Feb. 5.
Denise Bartone was identified by administrators in the Freehold Township K-8 School District as a former chairwoman of the Freehold Township Education Foundation, which supports activities and programs in the district’s schools.
Messages posted on social media indicated the Bartones were the parents of three children. A prayer vigil for the couple was held at the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine, Freehold Township, on the evening of Feb. 4.
Assisting in the initial investigation were the Freehold Township Police Department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, the Woodbridge Police Department and the Sayreville Police Department.
