Grandson Charged in Maplewood Double Homicide

Police have arrested Dwayne Flourney of Northview Terrace in Maplewood and charged him with the murder of his father and grandmother.

Flourney, 26, was arrested last night at the home of a friend in Phillipsburg, NJ, after leaving the scene of the murder — his home at 5 Northview Terrace — on Sunday.

Maplewood Police and the Essex County Prosecutor allege that Flourney first stabbed his grandmother, Sandra Flourney, age 76, to death on Saturday afternoon, then stabbed his father, Brian Flourney, age 52, when he came home later that day. Police say that he transferred his grandmother's body to a car parked in the garage and covered his father's body with a sheet or cloth and left him in a sun porch.

Flourney reportedly invited friends over for drinks on Saturday night. He slept in the house — where he had grown up and lived as an adult intermittently — that night, leaving with his father's car on Sunday. With the help of the Phillipsburg Police Department, Flourney was arrested Monday night at the home of a female friend.

Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray said she could not yet comment as to motive. She also had no information to share regarding Dwayne Flourney's mental health or whether or not he had a criminal record. Murray said that, at this time, police and the prosecutor's office believe Flourney acted alone but said "this is an ongoing investigation."

Co-workers of Brian Flourney, who was an investigator employed by the Union County Public Defender's Office, became suspicious when Flourney did not show up for work and did not call on Monday. Employees at his office called the Maplewood Police Department Monday morning to suggest that police make a welfare check on the home. Family members also contacted police and expressed their concern.

By , police were taping off Northview Terrace. Workers from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office soon arrived on scene to remove evidence. The bodies were removed from the property late in the evening and a green Nissan was towed away.

Sandra Flourney, 76, was a retired school teacher.

The Flourneys lived in a modest two-story home on a middle-class street in Maplewood with neatly manicured lawns.

Neighbors expressed shock at the turn of events.

A neighbor on Millburn Avenue said she frequented the block in her proselytizing work as a Jehovah's Witness. "It's so quiet here!" she said. "It's just so sad." She said that she had never met the occupants of the house, but that the neighborhood was peaceful and friendly.

Maplewood Police Chief Robert Cimino said that the crime was not typical of Maplewood.

"Maplewood has a strong sense of community, and the senseless loss of life by any resident is felt deeply by the entire community and our officers," said Cimino.