Springfield incident ruled a homicide
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By: DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times

dlevinsky@phillyBurbs.com

SPRINGFIELD - The two bodies found on a horse farm here Saturday were immigrant farm workers who appeared to have been bludgeoned to death, state police said on Sunday.

The exact cause of death is still pending the completion of an autopsy, but state police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos confirmed the case has now been classified as a possible double homicide.

The investigation was launched at 8:30 a.m. Saturday after the bodies were found on the Sterling Chase Farm, a thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm set off Highland Road.

"They both appeared to have died from blunt force trauma to the head," Castellanos said Sunday.

The dead had not been positively identified but both were male farm workers from North, Central or South America who lived and worked on Sterling Chase Farm year-round, Castellanos said. He did not know their immigration status or how long the two had been working on the farm.
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Castellanos also declined to specify where on the farm the bodies were discovered or when and where the two workers were last seen alive.

No suspects were in custody Sunday, but Castellanos said investigators are actively pursuing several leads. He declined to specify.

The owners of the Sterling Chase Farm have declined to comment on the deaths.

The murders are believed to be the first homicide in Springfield in nearly 30 years.

March 02, 2009 03:10 AM