NJ family found dead in pool may have been electrocuted: neighbors

The family of three found dead in a pool at the back of their New Jersey home may have been electrocuted, their neighbors fear.

An electrician’s truck was spotted Monday helping investigators at the East Brunswick house shortly after the discovery of three bodies in the pool, including an 8-year-old girl, her mother and an elderly male relative.

“It’s going around that they were electrocuted,” the family’s next-door neighbor, who asked not to be named, told The Post Tuesday as at least a dozen people arrived to comfort the grieving family.

“I understand that they just had the pool worked on,” she added, with CBS News’ Darlene Melendez also tweeting that they had been “excited to use it” after getting the raised pool serviced.

Other locals also noted the workers at the scene of where the girl, her 32-year-old mother and a 62-year-old male relative were found dead in the pool after 911 calls to a woman screaming Monday afternoon.

“The fact that they had an electrician’s truck show up shortly thereafter — I mean, it wouldn’t make sense that three people just drowned right away like that, with an adult there, too,” neighbor Phil Peterson told CBS News.

East Brunswick Police spokesman confirmed to CNN that an electrician had been called to help the investigation.

“That’s just to rule in or rule out the possibility of electrical currents,” he told the network. “The investigation is still active and we’re waiting for the autopsies.”

The current owners — not yet formally identified — had “only moved in a few weeks ago” to the house on Clearview Road, their neighbor told The Post.

Property records show that it was bought for $451,000 by Akash and Nisha Patel in late April.

The former owner who sold the house earlier this year insisted to The Post that there had been no problems with the pool before.

Police had been called to the home around 4:20 p.m. when a neighbor heard screaming, thinking someone had fallen, police said.

“We believe the mother was screaming from inside the pool for help,” police spokesman Sutter said at a press conference.

Their next-door neighbor — who said she did not hear any of the initial commotion — said cops initially came to her house thinking that’s where the scream had originated.

“I told them, not here, and they ran next door,” she said. Police attempted CPR but pronounced all three dead at the scene, they said.

Mayor Brad Cohen told NJ.com that the “entire East Brunswick community is shocked and saddened.”

“Our condolences go out to the family and may they find strength from the community that shares in their grief,” Cohen said.