Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Orange Public Safety Director Todd Warren have announced that authorities are investigating the death of an Orange resident who was found dead in his apartment in the 500 block of Chestnut Street.
Authorities said, Orange police officers had been dispatched to the apartment on a report of an unresponsive male.
Arriving officers discovered an unconscious male within the apartment. and he was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the Prosecutor's Homicide Unit.
According to authorities, the victim has been identified as Michael Agard, 59 and said exact cause of death will be determined by an autopsy at the Regional Medical Examiners' Office, but the matter is being investigated as a homicide, according to Fennelly.
This incident is being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Task Force and the Orange Police Department.
The investigation is ongoing at this time.. Anyone with information is asked to call the Prosecutor's Tips Line at (877) 847-7432.