It seems, someone wanted her dead.

By TRYMAINE LEE

Not everyone in town knew Joan Davis, but it seemed that way. Her never-failing presence at various township meetings was the stuff of local lore.

Not everyone liked Joan Davis; her inevitable five-minute harangues at those meetings were also well known. And now it seems, someone wanted her dead.

In a quiet, well-to-do neighborhood just off Teaneck Road, where the hush of a summer’s day is usually broken only by the occasional bark of a dog or the hum of nearby traffic, neighbors were dealing with a whodunit the likes of which this town has never seen.

Ms. Davis, 74, was found dead on Tuesday in her burning Tudor-style home on Alpine Drive. Her yard was not unlike the other well-manicured yards in the neighborhood, but for the yellow irises she grew by the curb and a sign that hung from her front door reading, “Friends for Peace.”

But officials said Ms. Davis had died violently behind that door. They ruled her death a homicide, and local news reports, citing a source in law enforcement, said her hands had been bound and her head bludgeoned. There has been no mention of any suspects.

The killing of Ms. Davis, a longtime political watchdog and gadfly, has left residents wondering whether the attack was random or the result of a personal vendetta.

American Scofflaw

Gee, that's a reaaaal brain teaser!!!!