Friday morning began like any other for New Jersey mail carrier Dom Clements, until he reached one of the homes on his regular route in the Mount Holly suburb. Clements immediately noticed something was wrong: the mailbox had been completely wrapped in clear packing tape, while a sheet of poster board taped near the front door showed two sad faces with Xs for eyes and the ominous words “9-1-1 Inside.”
When Clements knocked and received no answer, he immediately called emergency services. Police arrived within minutes. Inside the home, officers found three elderly people dead. A neighbor later told local media that police had described a scene with a significant amount of blood. New Jersey authorities are now investigating what caused the deaths and who left the clues that led Clements to the house.
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The sad faces, the word ‘Inside’ and the emergency number 911 on a sign posted at the entrance to the house
Clements described the moment he realized something was wrong, saying he approached the home to deliver the mail as he did every day and noticed that the mailbox had been sealed with ordinary clear packing tape. A sign had been attached to the wall with similar tape.
“I walked up to the house, as usual, to deliver the mail. The mailbox was all taped up with just regular wrapping tape, clear wrapping tape,” Clements told the New York Post. “And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ and right next to the door, with the same tape holding it up on the wall. And it said, 911 inside, with two rudimentary drawings of faces.”
He knocked but received no response and called police immediately.
What particularly troubled Clements was his suspicion that the message may have been left specifically for him.
The house where the bodies were found
“I thought it was weird, because the only person that would have been able to see that sign would have been me, ’cause I’m the only one that goes to that house every day,” he said. “The only person who goes up to the door is the mail carrier. It’s weird. The whole situation was weird.”
The three victims have not yet been officially identified. Neighbors told local media that two brothers and a sister, believed to be in their 60s, lived in the home. They described the siblings as quiet neighbors who caused no problems and said they had rarely seen other people entering or leaving the property over the years.
Authorities have not formally determined how the three died. Autopsies were being performed by the Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office as investigators from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and Mount Holly Township Police Department worked to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Officials said there was no indication of an ongoing threat to the wider public.