In a quiet Union, New Jersey neighborhood, the story of nine-year-old Scarlett Alarcon came to a tragic end. On January 17, 2024, she was found deceased in her home on Lincrest Terrace, a victim of a devastating murder-suicide. The young girl, along with her six-year-old sister Emma and their fifty-one-year-old father Ruben Alarcon, were fatally shot by their mother, forty-two-year-old Andrea Alarcon, who then took her own life.
The grim discovery was made by Union County Sheriff's
Officers who had arrived at the residence to serve an eviction notice. The family's home had been sold in a sheriff's sale in October of the previous year for $332,000 as part of a foreclosure. Neighbors reported not having seen the family for some time leading up to the tragic event.
Authorities investigating the scene found the weapon near Andrea Alarcon's body, confirming the sequence of events. The community was left in shock and mourning by the loss of the entire family. A funeral mass for all four members of the Alarcon family was held on January 24 at St. Michael's Church in Union. Scarlett was a student at Hannah Caldwell Elementary School.
