Man followed through on threats to woman that he would 'murder her and her family' while their children were in the house

Background: News footage of the Russells' home in Berkeley Township, N.J., where three family members were found dead on March 10 (WNBC). Insets (left to right): Deonna Stewart and her parents, Allan and Michelle Russell (Facebook).

A New Jersey man gunned down his estranged wife and her parents a month after he threatened to commit the act, police say.

Vaughn Stewart, 37, fatally shot his estranged wife, 38-year-old Deonna Stewart, and her parents, 61-year-old Allan Russell and 60-year-old Michelle Russell, at the Russells' home in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, on Tuesday. He then turned the gun on himself, dying later at the hospital. According to local news outlet The Asbury Park Press, the Stewarts' three young children — an infant, a 3-year-old, and a 5-year-old — were in the home unharmed.

According to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, Vaughn Stewart shot the Russells first, then hunted his wife down as she fled, caught on neighborhood surveillance cameras screaming, "Murderer!" Her body was found 50 yards from the home.

According to reporting by NJ.com, Vaughn Stewart had a history of domestic violence, including an incident one month before the killings on Tuesday. In a criminal complaint from the previous incident, police responded to a call from a QuickChek store in Cranford, New Jersey, after reports of a man and a woman fighting. The woman, whose identity was redacted from the court documents and was identified as a family member, had been punched in the head several times and had a braid ripped from her scalp.

The man, identified as Vaughn Stewart, was allegedly heard telling her that he would "murder her and her family." He was charged with making terroristic threats, harassment, and simple assault. After his initial court appearance in February, prosecutors did not ask for him to remain in pretrial detention.

Prosecutors said that after the suspected murder-suicide, investigators learned that Vaughn and Deonna Stewart were living separately. Deonna Stewart had taken the couple's three young children with her to live with her parents, the Russells. Vaughn Stewart was living with his mother in Maplewood, New Jersey, where a neighbor told NJ.com that he and a woman he believed to be Deonna Stewart were often heard fighting.

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NJ.com reported that Deonna Stewart filed for divorce in April 2024, but the case was dismissed in January 2025.

A neighbor of the Russells told The Asbury Park Press that Allan and Michelle Russell were "the most amazing people" who brought his family care packages after he was injured on the job. The neighbor said the Russells both worked in the medical field and were devoted churchgoers.