After recently ending a long-term relationship, a Guyanese couple was found dead at in separate homes in New Jersey on Thursday morning.

Marcel Grant’s car parked outside her residence

Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said investigators are trying to determine if the incident was a murder-suicide. The Star Ledger reported on Thursday that Marcel Grant, 29, was found shortly before 7 am outside her East Orange home on South Grove Street. She was shot to death, East Orange police said. A short time later, Grant’s 51-year-old ex-boyfriend, Winston Fraser, was discovered dead inside his apartment in Irvington of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Grant, The Star Ledger reported, was a hard-working nurse who was punctual. The woman, friends said, would normally leave her East Orange home about 6:30 am. When she didn’t show up for work on time Thursday, co-workers and friends became anxious.

Grant’s body was discovered lying near her white Infiniti G35X on Ashland Place. Police were called to the scene after receiving reports of shots fired in the area, Loriquet said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Landlord Cecil Tyndall said he was awakened by police officers, who guided him to the driveway. He said he saw Grant’s car and her bloodied body in the driveway.

Thomas said Grant had moved to East Orange about a month ago after breaking up with Fraser, with whom she had a seven-year-old daughter, who is in Guyana with all of Grant’s family. Grant used to share the Irvington apartment with Fraser.

Third-floor tenant Carlton Crandon said he would often see Grant go out to the front fence to talk to Fraser. Fraser, the man said, was never allowed in the house.

Raul Roberts, a friend of Fraser’s, said the couple had been together for four to five years before recently splitting up. Charlton Griffith, another of Fraser’s friends, said the man had lost his job a year ago from an Elizabeth chemical company that makes air fresheners and other products.

“This is out of character. He was a very quiet guy,” Griffith said of Fraser.