Grisly realization in Camden: Twin brothers in idling car were dead

The parked Jeep Grand Cherokee was running, its red brake lights glowing and exhaust pipe humming, as Kenneth Bagby walked past its rolled-up windows on his way to work around 6 a.m. Friday.

Bagby, like others who saw the silver SUV along South Constitution Road in Camden, assumed the two men inside were waiting for someone or hanging out. He glanced only briefly at the car, distracted by the sound of the front windshield wipers. They were moving even though the overnight rain had stopped.

It wasn't until another resident drove by, around 7:30 a.m., that someone realized the men - 26-year-old twins - were dead.

The discovery of Markice and Maurice Harper stunned residents in Camden's Fairview neighborhood, where friends and neighbors said the twins grew up. They had been shot several hours before being discovered in the driver's and front passenger seats, authorities said.

The exact time they died and a motive remained a mystery. Investigators said the Jeep was registered to one of the brothers and that the gunshots occurred in the area they were found. But neighbors said they heard nothing, and friends said they could not picture why someone would target the brothers.

"It's crazy we're even sitting here talking about them right now," said Shaquaya Murray, 24, of Bellmawr, who said she had grown up with the two in Camden. Between tears, standing behind a tree next to which the Jeep was discovered, she lamented, "You wish you could have told them something before it even happened."

Murray said one of the brothers had gotten the Jeep recently. Whether it played a role in the homicides is something investigators will examine.

"They're going to be looking at plenty of factors," said Andy McNeil, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Down the street, neighbor Toni Williams said she had known the twins since they were little. Her mother-in-law, who used to live on the same block as the Harper family, brought the boys snacks from the grocery store, which they would run outside to grab, Williams said.

Markice Harper graduated from Camden High School in 2007. His brother last attended the school in 2008 but did not graduate.

Recently, friends said the twins would play basketball on a court with children in Fairview.

On Facebook, the two were pictured together in NFL jerseys and with family. The twins were almost indistinguishable, sporting similar haircuts and facial hair. "Sleep in Peace twins," one woman wrote on Markice Harper's Facebook wall Friday.

Williams said she couldn't believe the two had been found dead on her normally quiet block, where she has lived for seven years.

"Sad, so, so, so sad, to wake up on a Friday morning and know that that happened," Williams said. "And what really bothers you is, you know them."

Fairview has seen other violence this week. On Sunday, two teenagers and a man were shot and wounded. One was discovered half a mile from where the Harpers were found.

McNeil said those shootings and Friday's are not believed to be connected. "But we can't rule anything out," he said.

Linette Jenkins, 43, said she saw the back of the Jeep after her boyfriend dropped her off at home around 6:30. He thought he saw bird droppings on one of the windows, Jenkins said. She just noticed the two individuals in the front.

"I just thought there was somebody sitting in there," she said.

And before the 911 call, so did everyone else. As Bagby, 22, who is Jenkins' son, recalled: "Just seemed like a normal morning. Nice and quiet."

Jenkins said the twins' family arrived at the scene soon after the car was discovered. They were distraught, she said. Attempts to locate them later Friday were unsuccessful. By late morning, investigators had taken the Jeep away.

The killings raised Camden's homicide toll this year to 20.

Authorities urged anyone with information to contact Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Mike Sutley at 856-614-8003 or Camden County Police Department Detective Ted Desantis at 856-757-7420.