Eileen Garvin was 69 years old and spent her days working around Barnegat, New Jersey. She drove a local school bus and spent a lot of time helping out at St. Mary’s Parish. Neighbors knew her as a familiar face on Windward Drive. That routine came to a sudden end Monday evening when police officers walked into her home around 6:30 p.m. and found her dead on the floor.
The police call came in as a domestic violence situation. When officers from the Barnegat Township Police Department entered the house, they found Eileen’s 67-year-old husband, William Garvin, sitting in a chair nearby. He had a knife sticking out of his chest from what investigators say was a self-inflicted wound.
Emergency crews rushed William Garvin to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. Medical staff treated his stab wound, and officials confirmed he was in stable condition. While he was still recovering in his hospital bed, officers served him with a murder warrant for his wife’s death.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced the formal murder charges on Wednesday morning. Once doctors clear William to leave the hospital, officers will take him straight to the Ocean County Jail. He will stay behind bars there while he waits for his first detention hearing in court.
People across Barnegat are struggling to deal with what happened inside the Windward Drive house. For years, Eileen was a constant presence in the local neighborhood. She picked up kids on her bus route every morning and stayed active with events at her church.
Police shut down Windward Drive between Bowline Street and Mizzen Drive while investigators worked inside the home. Officers told worried neighbors that there was no active danger to the rest of the town, but the patrol cars and crime scene tape left the block quiet and shaken.
Investigators have not said what caused the argument or what led up to the violence that evening. For those who knew Eileen, the loss hits hard. A woman who spent decades driving local roads and helping out in her church is gone, leaving her hometown looking for answers.
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