NJ Insurance Executive David Grodnick, 61, Wife Lora, 62, and Daughter Sloane, 24, Found Dead Inside $1.75M Montgomery Township Mansion

A welfare check at a sprawling New Jersey home began with an unsettling mystery: Officers could not reach anyone inside. Nearly 27 hours later, the search ended in a devastating discovery.

The three people who lived at the Montgomery Township property were David Grodnick, 61, his wife, Lora Grodnick, 62, and their 24-year-old daughter, Sloane Grodnick.

But the disturbing chain of events surrounding their deaths did not begin when police finally entered the house. Records cited in local reporting reveal that authorities had been called to the same address even earlier.

An Alarm Sounded Before the Welfare Check

The first warning came before dawn on Wednesday, September 30. At 4:30 a.m., Somerset County dispatch received a 911 call concerning a residential alarm at 39 Wild Azalea Lane in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township.

A glass break had been reported at the property, according to The Montgomery News. Then, the following afternoon, authorities received another troubling call concerning the same address.

At about 3 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, dispatch received a request for a welfare check. The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office placed the call at approximately 2:59 p.m.

A neighbor had grown concerned after a large amount of mail accumulated in the family's mailbox, according to The Montgomery News. The residents had also failed to respond to calls or text messages for some time.

Montgomery Township police officers went to the property, but they were unable to contact or locate anyone living there. Police began investigating the family's whereabouts. Then came one of the most striking details in the timeline: Officers did not successfully enter the house that afternoon or evening.

It was not until 5:52 p.m. on Friday, October 2 — nearly 27 hours after the welfare check request — that officers finally gained entry. Inside, they found all three members of the Grodnick family dead.

Three Family Members Were Found Dead Inside

David, Lora, and Sloane had each suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to the New York Post, citing the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. Lora and Sloane were discovered in separate bedrooms.

David was found elsewhere inside the house. Prosecutors said a gun was still in his hand. Medical personnel from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerset pronounced all three dead at the scene.

Authorities did not immediately reveal how long the family members had been dead before officers made the horrifying discovery. Investigators subsequently determined that Lora and Sloane's deaths were homicides, while David's death was a suicide.

According to authorities, David fatally shot his wife and daughter before shooting himself. The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said the investigation remained ongoing, but investigators had found no continuing danger to the surrounding community.

"The investigation, which remains ongoing, has yielded that the homicide deaths of both Lora and Sloane Grodnick were an isolated incident and there are no threats to the public from this tragic occurrence," the prosecutor's office said in its Tuesday release.

Montgomery Police Chief Silvio Bet similarly told The Montgomery News that the case had been turned over to the Somerset County Major Crimes Unit and that there was no further threat to the community.

The Major Crimes Unit investigates homicides, suicides, and suspicious deaths throughout Somerset County. Authorities said the investigation remained active, although no additional information was expected to be released at that time.

The Family Home Had Changed Hands Months Earlier

The family's sprawling home added another intriguing detail to the timeline. David, who was also an attorney, transferred ownership of the property to Lora on March 16, about six and a half months before their deaths, according to MyCentralJersey.

No reason for the transfer was provided in the supplied reporting. David had purchased the house in July 2021 for $1.345 million. Township records listed its assessed value at $996,500.

Zillow estimated the property's value at $1,751,200. Built in 2004, the imposing single-family house has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, and 6,060 square feet of living space. It sits on a 1.96-acre lot.

Before moving to Montgomery Township, David and Lora had lived in Princeton. According to local reporting, neighbors said the couple had been members of Bedens Brook Country Club in Skillman and TPC Jasna Polana, a private golf club in Princeton.

David Grodnick Worked in Commercial Real Estate Insurance

David was a senior vice president and underwriting counsel for Land Services USA, a Philadelphia-based insurance agency involved in commercial real estate transactions across the United States.

His responsibilities included business development and underwriting multi-site commercial real estate transactions nationwide. He studied business administration at the University of Miami.

David also earned a bachelor's degree in English from McDaniel College, where he played lacrosse. Public court records cited in the supplied material show that David and Lora had also been plaintiffs in several lawsuits over the years.

Among them was Grodnick v. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, a federal class-action case concerning benzene in coal tar shampoo.

The case was dismissed in 2025 because the plaintiff failed to establish a personal injury or legal standing, according to the supplied court information.

The Grodnicks were also involved in a 2024 class-action case involving Capital One and Discover. The supplied reporting also references personal lawsuits involving matters including breach of contract and landlord disputes.

But another chapter in the family's story stretched much further into the past — to an episode involving Sloane when she was just nine years old.

Sloane Was Pursuing a Master's Degree

Sloane's life had taken her from Princeton to prestigious art schools in Georgia and Rhode Island. She graduated from The Hun School of Princeton in 2020 before attending the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Sloane graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2024. At the time of her death, she was enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Rhode Island School of Design.

She was expected to graduate the following year, according to the supplied material. But Sloane had first received public attention long before her college years.

When she was just nine, Princeton Township officials recognized her after she began collecting toys, clothing, and other items for an eight-year-old girl in Trenton who had suffered abuse at home, according to NJ.com.

The case had captured Sloane's attention after she read about the child, who had been found living in poor conditions in Trenton. The girl had allegedly been tied up and left to starve by her mother before being placed in foster care.

Sloane responded by gathering her own belongings to give to the child. Her mother, referred to as Lori in the earlier report, recalled what her daughter said at the time.

"There's a little girl who has a horrible mommy, and she needs my things," Sloane told her mother, according to the 2011 article quoted by The Montgomery News. Lora suggested that her daughter instead collect new items with members of her Brownie Troop.

The compassionate effort soon grew, with girls from Johnson Park School and Stuart Country Day School helping gather donations for the child. The Times of Trenton later praised Sloane's actions in a 2011 editorial.

Fifteen years after that childhood act of compassion, Sloane and her mother were found dead in separate bedrooms of their Montgomery Township home. Their deaths were ruled homicides.

David's death was ruled a suicide. Authorities said evidence gathered during the investigation indicated that the killings were an isolated incident, with no continuing threat to the public.

The investigation remained active following the identification of David, Lora, and Sloane, but officials said no further information was expected to be released at that time.