Police: Franklin man stabs wife, shoots self in murder-suicide

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP (Gloucester) — A 42-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her husband before he drove off and then shot himself to death in a violent murder-suicide, Gloucester County authorities said.

Franklin Township Police responded on Thursday around 10:30 a.m. to a home on Sandra Way in the Franklinville section of town, to a call about a man inside a vehicle which had come to rest in a backyard adjacent to Franklinville-Williamstown Road.

John Kolonich, 46, was found dead inside the vehicle from a gunshot wound to the head, according to Acting Chief of Detectives Thomas Gilbert of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.

His wife, Melissa Kolonich, was found stabbed to death inside their nearby family home on Florawood Court, Gilbert said.

Investigators said that Melissa Kolonich had been killed at home by her husband, who then drove away southbound on Franklinville-Williamstown Road before crashing into the backyard of the Sandra Way home.

After the crash, he shot himself with a rifle in the vehicle with him, authorities said.

No potential motive was shared by the prosecutor’s office as of Friday.

Melissa Kolonich’s personal Facebook page appears to show the couple shared one daughter.

John Kolonich was a chiropractor who had a local office, based on a business Facebook page.

Anyone with additional information relevant to this investigation can contact the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-3384-5593, or Franklin Township Police at 856-694-1415.