Former Morris County Clerk Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide: Report

Joan Bramhall, a longtime Morris political figure who retired last year as county clerk, was found dead Thursday morning with her husband in their Denville home in an apparent murder-suicide, NJ.com reported.

Sources confirmed the bodies found in the Arden Road home were Joan and John Bramhall, NJ.com reported. The sources also said authorities are investigating the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide, NJ.com reported.

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office released a brief statement Thursday, only saying two adults, a male and female, were found dead inside the residence at 9 Arden Road. The prosecutor’s office also said the preliminary investigation indicated there was no threat to the public.

Joan Bramhall served as Morris County Republican Committee chairwoman from 1988 to 1994 and was a freeholder from 1993 to 1998. Bramhall, who served as a freeholder alongside now-Gov. Chris Christie, held the county clerk position from 1999 until she retired in 2013.

“It’s a damn tragedy,” Sen Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) told the Daily Record. “God, she just retired. She had done so much—county clerk, chairwoman of the Rebublican Party, a great supporter of me as I was of her.”

Her husband, John, built a number of the homes on their quiet Denville street, according to the Daily Record.

Neighbors and former colleagues were stunned by Thursday’s news.

“It’s an unbelievable thing,” Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler told the Daily Record. “You can’t comprehend it. I can’t grasp it.”

(Photo: Google Earth image of the Bramhalls’ home at 9 Arden Road in Denville).