Edison, NJ: Elderly Edison couple found dead in apparent murder-suicide, police say

Benjamin Den Bleyker was a smoker.
He was often seen going outside to smoke at the Heritage at Clara Barton assisted living center in Edison, where he and his wife, Alice, lived.
So when a nurse didn’t see Den Bleyker on Sunday, she and another staff member grew concerned. They entered the couple’s apartment and found them dead from an apparent murder-suicide.
"He shot his wife and then he laid down in bed and shot himself," Edison police Sgt. Joe Perrotte said today.
Alice Den Bleyker, 80, had suffered with Parkinson’s Disease, Police Chief Thomas Bryan said.
"It’s a shame. It’s disheartening to feel that this couple felt they had no other way to turn," Bryan said.
Staff members say they last saw Benjamin Den Bleyker, 81, Saturday afternoon, police said. On Sunday, when staff members still hadn’t seen him, a nurse called the couple’s apartment.
When she got no answer, she and a member of the housekeeping staff knocked on the door of their apartment. After no response, they let themselves in at about 1:15 p.m. and found the couple, police said.
Police said officers are investigating how Benjamin Den Bleyker got a revolver that was found in the bedroom.
Heritage resident Cynthia Marino said residents of the complex, located at 1015 Amboy Ave., are shocked.
"It was a great surprise," she said.
She described the Den Bleykers as a loving couple who were friendly with those who lived on their floor. "He was always very helpful," she said. "She always had a smile on her face.
"They were really a wonderful couple," she said.
Jeanne Moore, spokeswoman for Genesis HealthCare, which manages the facility, issued a brief statement saying how the staff reacted after noticing a change in the couple’s daily habits.
"We were shocked and saddened on Sunday to discover that two residents of our independent living community were deceased in their apartment," Moore said. "We discovered the residents, a married couple, after noticing that they had not followed their normal routines this weekend," she said.
Moore did not respond to e-mailed questions and a message asking how long it took for staff members to find the couple or how the husband got the gun into the apartment.
Genesis HealthCare is based in Kennett Square, Pa. The company has more than 200 skilled nursing centers and assisted/senior living communities in 13 eastern states, according to its website.
The couple is survived by daughter and son-in-law Dawn Alison Den Bleyker and Dean Kaflowitz and daughter and grandchildren Diane Den Bleyker DePew, Benjamin Garrett DePew and Jessica Janelle DePew.
At their request, there will be no services.
Donations may be made to the National Parkinson Foundation or the Lupus Foundation of America.