Who was David Grodnick? Insurance executive suspected of killing wife and 24-year-old daughter before taking own life in New Jersey mansion

An insurance executive is suspected of fatally shooting his wife and daughter before killing himself inside their mansion in New Jersey. Police had found the two women in two separate bedrooms dead from gunshot wounds to their heads. Officials also discovered the man with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, prosecutors said.

The bodies were discovered on Friday evening (October 2), according to the People magazine. A firearm was also recovered at the scene. Emergency personnel from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset pronounced all three family members dead at the scene.

What we know about the victims

On Tuesday (October 6), police identified the deceased man as David Grodnick, aged 61, and the women as Grodnick’s 62-year-old wife, Lora Grodnick, and their 24-year-old daughter, Sloane Grodnick. David was the senior vice president and underwriting counsel at Land Services USA, a real estate title insurance company, according to a report by The Montgomery News.

Police in Montgomery Township first received a call on Thursday afternoon (October 1), requesting a check on occupants of the home, located on Wild Azalea Lane, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. After officers were unable to make contact with the residents, the police launched a probe.

Neighbors have reportedly said that Grodnick and his wife had been members of the elite Bedens Brook Country Club in their hometown of Skillman in Somerset County. The investigation into the deaths is underway.

"The homicide deaths of both Lora and Sloane Grodnick were an isolated incident, and there are no threats to the public from this tragic occurrence," the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said. "No further information will be available for release at this time."

Grodnick bought the home in 2021

David Grodnick had bought the home for $1.345 million in July 2021, and transferred ownership of the property to his wife in March this year, according to My Central Jersey website.

Sloane Grodnick had graduated from the private Hun School of Princeton in 2020 and then Savannah College of Art and Design in 2024, according to her Instagram account and The Montgomery News. She was set to complete a Master of Fine Arts degree at Rhode Island School of Design next year.

Local officials have asked anyone with information pertaining to the probe to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at (908) 231-7100 or the Montgomery Police Department at (908) 359-3222.