Deaths of Mother and Child in Church Avenue Fire Ruled Homicide/Suicide

The death of a 32-year-old mother and her three-year-old child have been ruled a homicide/suicide, according to law enforcement officials.

  The deaths of a 32-year-old woman and her three-year-old son in a Scotch Plains house fire on Tuesday evening have been ruled a homicide/suicide by the Scotch Plains Police Department along with the Union County Homicide Task Force, after an investigation revealed rags doused with an accelerant were blocking the door to a bedroom. An autopsy revealed this morning that the victims, Katherine Halverson, 32, and her son Jeremy McDonald Jr., 3, died of smoke inhalation. According to Scotch Plains Police Chief Brian Mahoney, the investigation revealed the mother had blocked the door to a second floor bedroom and placed rags doused with an unknown accelerant in front of the door, Mahoney said. He added that matches were also found near the …

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