A Union County grand jury has returned a five-count indictment against a Springfield man accused of stabbing his mother and grandfather to death in the home they shared earlier this year, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Thursday.
According to authorities, James Brown, 27, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three related weapons offenses in connection with the deaths of 51-year-old Roth Brown and 79-year-old Thomas Brown.
Police responding to a request for a welfare check found the bodies of the two victims in their Meckes Street residence on June 27th, 2016, after which a joint investigation involving the Union County Homicide Task Force, Springfield Police Department, and Union County Sheriff’s Office Identification Unit was initiated.
The investigation quickly resulted in James Brown being identified as a suspect, and he was apprehended the day after the homicides when two Mountainside Police Department officers, acting on information given to police, spotted him walking along Route 22 near the border of Mountainside and Springfield authorities said.
Brown was subsequently charged and taken to Union County Jail, where he was lodged on $2 million bail set by state Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim.
Convictions on murder charges are commonly punishable by terms of 30 years to life in state prison.