New Jersey Republican Joan Bramhall and husband found dead in 'murder-suicide'

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A couple were found dead in their New Jersey home Thursday morning
Police have not confirmed their identities, but the home belonged to Joan Bramhall, 75, and her husband John
She served as Morris County clerk for 15 years before retiring recently
Police have said there is no threat to the community
Joan Bramhall was described as 'an institution' and spent 50 years in local politics

Published: 20:14 EST, 7 August 2014 | Updated: 05:21 EST, 8 August 2014

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A fixture of New Jersey Republican politics and her husband have been found dead in their home in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police have not publicly identified the couple who were found Thursday morning, but the Arden Road home belonged to retired Morris County clerk Joan Bramhall and her husband John Bramhall.

The Star Ledger reports that sources close to the investigation have confirmed the couples' identities.

Recently retired: New Jersey Republican fixture Joan Bramhall is believed to have been found dead along with her husband John Bramhall in their home

Joan Bramhall, 75, had been a fixture in local Republican politics and retired in December 2013 after serving as county clerk for 15 years.

The couple had four children together but lost one, and also raised four of their grandchildren.

Police were dispatched to the property after a relative reported a person found deceased in the home at 10am Thursday.

Officers then found a second body in the house.

According to the Daily Record, one daughter-in-law of the couple was staying at the home but was not present at the time of the deaths.

Police released a statement saying that a male and female in their seventies had been found dead in the home.

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They said the investigation is in its preliminary stages but that 'there is no indication...that there is any threat to the community.'

No further details were given.

Joan Bramhall had been a longtime member of the Morris County Republican Committee and served as its chairwoman from 1988 to 1994, and worked alongside present Governor Chris Christie as a freeholder from 1993 to 1998.

John Bramhall had owned a construction company which was responsible for many of the large homes in the couple's neighborhood, reports the Star Ledger.

'It's a damn tragedy. God, she just retired. She had done so much - county clerk, chairwoman of the Republican Party, a great supporter of me as I was of her,' Senator Anthony Bucco told the Daily Record, adding that he'd just seen Bramhall a month ago.

Family home: The couple were found in their Arden Road home after police received a call from a family member

He said she'd told him that she and her husband had travel plans for their retirement and that she'd hoped to go to Alaska.

Other friends and former colleagues were equally shocked and distraught.

Assembleyman Michael Patrick Carroll said Bramhall was incredibly kind and helpful to him when he began in politics in the 1970s.

'She was a great lady, everybody's friend. She never had an ill word about anybody,' Carroll told the Star Ledger.

'At the end of the day, if you could stay serving the people in the state of New Jersey for basically 50 years, even somewhere as relatively civil as Morris County, and never piss anyone off, that says a lot about your personality.'

When she announced at the age of 74 in January 2013 that she would not run for a fourth term as county clerk, Bramhall said she was looking forward to her retirement.

'You know when it's time to stop and I want to stop and smell the roses, so to speak,' Bramhall said, reports the Daily Record.