Pitman Murder: 6-Year-Old Boy Among The Dead

Two adults and their 6-year-old son were found dead in their family home in Pitman, New Jersey on Tuesday morning. It is not clear at this time if they were murdered or whether the family committed suicide together.

The father, Francis Adolf, aged 49; his wife Bonnie Lynn, aged 44; and their son Frank Jr., aged just 6, were already deceased when local authorities arrived at the private home on Kenton Avenue in Pitman. Murder and suicide are both possibilities, and neither have been ruled out by authorities.

The Mayor of Pitman, Russ Johnson, who lives close-by to the area where the murder/suicide took place, spoke to reporters about the Pitman murder case saying he was: “Shocked. Sad. This is my neighborhood. This is my town. Just very sad for the family.”

Mayor Johnson also confirmed that Frank Adolf was a classmate of his son in 1st grade, at the local Memorial Elementary School. He continued:

“Everyone here in the district — especially those within the Memorial School community — is heartbroken about the loss of Frankie. We extend our sympathy to all of Frankie’s family and friends, and to the wider community of Pitman, on this very sad day. I don’t know how you explain to a 7-year-old what could possibly happen. You’ve got to do your best as parents but I don’t know how I can possibly explain it to my kid — to any of those kids in that school.”

The small New Jersey town of Pitman has only 9,000 residents and sits around 15 miles south of Center City in Philadelphia. Autopsies of the three dead people, which are due to take place today, will give authorities clues as to the actual cause of death, as they try to ascertain if the incident was a murder or a case of family suicide.

More information about the Pitman Murder case will be forthcoming in the next few days.