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The three individuals were identified as Akanni A. Marin, 45, Karen A. Lemaitre, the mother of his children, and her sister, Wanita A. Joffer, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo said.
Union Township police officers approached a vehicle they noticed parked in the back of an Enterprise Rent-A-Car lot on Morris Avenue, where they found the body of 45-year-old Martin early Monday morning, Ruotolo said.
He appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the head and a weapon was recovered near his body, the prosecutor said. No foul play was involved, she said.
In working to notify Martin’s next of kin, detectives from visited Martin’s home on the 1500 block of Summit Ave in Hillside.
After further investigation, detectives determined two individuals close to Martin were missing.
On Tuesday, April 6, detectives visited K & K Jamaican Restaurant on the 1500 block of Summit Ave in Hillside, a restaurant co-owned by Martin.
There, detectives found the bodies of Lemaitre, 39, and Joffer, 41, Ruotolo said.
An autopsy conducted today by the Union County Medical Examiner’s Office on Lemaitre and Joffer ruled their manner of death to be a homicide.
The deaths were believed to be related, Ruotolo said.
This matter remains under active investigation, led by the Union County Homicide Task Force with assistance from members of the Union Township Police Department, Hillside Police Department, and Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit.
Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Lieutenant Johnny Ho at 908-403-8271 or Detective Lamar Hartsfield at 908-451-1873.
There was no known further threat to the community, authorities said.
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