A nurse, her boyfriend, and her father were killed in a New Jersey house fire that police are investigating as a possible murder suicide.
The victims, identified by neighbours as Katherine Guiterrez, 34, her father Carlos, and her boyfriend Nic, were pronounced dead at the scene on Monday night.
Evidence at the site on Jackson Avenue, Wayne, NJ, indicated a possible murder suicide, sources in the police and fire personnel said.
Guiterrez and her boyfriend leave behind a four-year-old daughter, Adrianna, as well as her three sisters and her mother.
Katherine Guiterrez, 34, her boyfriend, and her father were killed in a New Jersey house fire that police are investigating as a possible murder suicide
The trio were pronounced dead at the scene of the blaze on Jackson Avenue, Wayne, NJ on Monday night
She was an ICU nurse at Hackensack Meridian Health who had spent the last few months working with Covid-19 patients. Her father worked for a landscaping company.
Her sister Pamela paid tribute in a statement posted to a gofundme page for the trio’s funeral costs.
She said: ‘We lost a very smart, gorgeous, individual with a beautiful soul. Anyone that knew my sister knows how smart, and goal oriented she was…
‘There is no amount of tears or words to describe what we are feeling right now.’ Katherine was truly an amazing person, a great big sister to us all and we will miss her dearly.’
Guiterrez and her boyfriend, named in a gofundme page as Nic, leave behind a four-year-old daughter, Adrianna
Her sister Pamela paid tribute in a statement that said: ‘Katherine was truly an amazing person, a great big sister to us all and we will miss her dearly’
Neighbours said they had smelt gas and heard a loud explosion from the property moments before the deadly fire.
The houses’ windows were blown out in the apparent explosion before bright orange flames were seen engulfing the rear of the property.
Firefighters managed to get the fire, which broke out around 6 p.m., under control just after 7:30pm.
The massive blaze spread to another house on the street, scorching a garage and melting a fence, but was quickly extinguished.
Neighbour Joe Sasso told NBC News: ‘My wife was outside with the dogs in the backyard, she heard a loud bang and glass shattering,
‘She immediately came to the front of our building, starting running toward the house calling 911.’
The houses’ windows were blown out in the apparent explosion before bright orange flames were seen engulfing the rear of the property. Firefighters managed to get the blaze under control by 7:30 p.m.
Other neighbours also rushed towards the house in an attempt to pull survivors from the wreckage, but there were none.
Guiterrez’s family home sustained extensive damage and has been cordoned off by police pending further investigations by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
The bodies believed to be those of Guiterrez’s boyfriend and father, who is in his 60s, were found in a room upstairs. The nurse’s body was discovered in the basement.
Police said they were unable to share more details at this time.
The family are originally from Chile, but moved to Wayne in 2019. Another woman and Adrianna who normally live at the house were out of the country at the time of the fire.
Neighbours said they had smelt gas and heard a loud explosion from the rear of the property moments before the deadly fire
The scene that greeted police and fire personnel when they arrived at the family home on Jackson Avenue around 6:15 p.m. apparently indicated a possible murder suicide
