Joan Bramhall found dead in apparent murder-suicide

Former Morris County Clerk Joan Bramhall, who once worked with Republican Governor Chris Christie, was found dead along with her husband inside their New Jersey home.

The incident appeared to be a murder-suicide, officials said on Friday.

Police discovered the bodies of Joan Bramhall and her husband, John, inside their Denville home on Thursday, but the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office declined to identify the victims until Friday.

An autopsy revealed that Joan Bramhall was shot dead and her husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The statement did not say that John Bramhall shot his wife, though it did say there was no evidence of any intruders in the home and added that the community was not at risk.

Joan Bramhall was the former Morris County clerk and stepped down in 2013 after her 14th consecutive year in that position.

She previously had served as the chairwoman of the Morris County Republican Committee.

Joan Bramhall was long a fixture in New Jersey politics, holding a five-year post as a county freeholder alongside Christie in the 1990s.