On a tragic autumn day in Manahawkin, New Jersey, the lives of two sisters were cut short in a shocking act of violence. Twenty-one-year-old Melissa Veitch, a female with a future full of promise, was killed on November 9, 2006. She was looking forward to becoming a mother, as she was four months pregnant at the time of her death. Her younger sister, Jessica Veitch, who was 15 years old, also died in the attack.
The sisters had just returned home from a trip to a local convenience store around 11:30 a.m. when they were ambushed in their driveway on Mercer Avenue. The gunman, identified as 52-year-old William Cordes Jr. of Tuckerton, was the ex-boyfriend of the victims' mother, Dorea Veitch. Authorities believe that Cordes followed the sisters to their home, pulled in behind their car with his pickup truck, and shot them as they were getting out of their vehicle. Each sister was shot once in the torso with a.
45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
Neighbors in the ordinarily quiet Deer Lake Park section of Manahawkin were startled by the sound of gunshots and screams, and numerous calls were made to 911. Police officers, including one who was off-duty and heard the shots, rushed to the scene. They found the two sisters in the driveway. Melissa and Jessica were transported to Southern Ocean County Hospital, where they were pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The tragic event was compounded by the fact that their mother was on her way home from work when police intercepted her to deliver the devastating news.
Inside the Veitch home, police discovered the body of William Cordes Jr. on the living room sofa. He had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Investigators determined the motive for the horrific act was connected to Dorea Veitch having recently ended her relationship with Cordes. Because the perpetrator took his own life, there were no arrests in the case, which was classified as a double murder-suicide. The community was left to mourn the senseless loss of two young women whose lives were just beginning.
