3 in family dead; police suspect murder-suicide

OCEAN GATE, N.J. - Three people - including a 7-year-old boy, who were found dead inside an Ocean County home Saturday - died in what investigators suspect was a murder-suicide, authorities said yesterday.

Jeff Eyerly, 46, was found hanged over a staircase Saturday afternoon inside his East Point Pleasant Avenue home, where the bodies of his wife, 41-year-old Carol Ann Peckham, and her son, Kyle Peckham, were also found.

An autopsy performed yesterday by the county medical examiner determined that Kyle died of manual strangulation and his mother died from blunt force trauma. The boy's body was found in a bedroom; his mother was found in a living-room area.

The bodies were discovered by Carol Peckham's mother and brother late Saturday morning. Authorities were treating the case as a double homicide and suicide. There was no record of abuse or domestic disturbance at the home.

- AP