Delco man gets two life sentences in killing of his son’s mother, her mother in South Jersey break-in
Prosecutors said Junior Edwards smashed a window, forcing himself into the house Catherine Nunez, 33, lived in in the Hawthorne Park section of Willingboro.
A 39-year-old Delaware County man convicted of fatally shooting his son’s mother and her mother in Burlington County was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life terms in state prison.
Prosecutors said Junior Edwards smashed a window to force himself into the house where Catherine Nunez, 33, lived in the Hawthorne Park section of Willingboro in October 2024. At the time, Nunez’s mother, Marisol, 54, was staying with her.
The women were forced into a bedroom where Edwards fatally shot them, with his 8-year-old son in a nearby room, prosecutors said. The boy was not physically injured in the attack.
“There is no sentence that can ever heal the pain created by the loss of Catherine and Marisol Nunez,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said. “But we hope this outcome brings some sense of peace to those who loved them and still hold them close in their hearts.”
A South Jersey jury convicted Edwards in March. The motive behind the shooting remained unclear at trial. Prosecutors said Edwards and Nunez had not been involved for some time.
In New Jersey, first-degree murder convictions carry an automatic life sentence. Edwards was sentenced to an additional 20 years for burglary in connection with the killings and 10 more years for endangering the welfare of a child, to be served concurrently.
Edwards was not present at his sentencing. Superior Court Judge Aimee Belgard had him removed earlier in the proceedings after multiple outbursts.
