A Springfield man has been arrested and charged with stabbing his mother and grandfather to death in the home they shared, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park and Springfield Police Chief John Cook jointly announced Tuesday.
James Brown, 27, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three related weapons offenses in connection with the deaths of 51-year-old Roth Brown and 79-year-old Thomas Brown.
Police responding to a request for a welfare check found the bodies of the two victims in their Meckes Street residence early Monday afternoon, after which a joint investigation involving the Union County Homicide Task Force, Springfield Police Department, and Union County Sheriff’s Office Identification Unit was initiated.
The investigation quickly resulted in James Brown being identified as a suspect, and he was apprehended Tuesday morning when two Mountainside Police Department officers, acting on information given to police, spotted him walking along Route 22 near the border of Mountainside and Springfield.
Brown was subsequently charged and taken to Union County Jail, where he was lodged on $2 million bail set by state Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim.
He will be scheduled to make his first appearance in court in the coming days.