A mother and grown daughter were found dead yesterday, bound in the bedroom of their third-floor apartment in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill neighborhood, city police said.

Juaria "Lynette" Leverette, 23, and her mother, Nina Johnson, 44, both of the 700 block of Newington Ave. appeared to have suffered multiple injuries but apparently were not shot, according to police, who were awaiting a medical examiner's report on the cause of death.

The bodies were found about 8: 30 a.m. Leverette's former boyfriend contacted her grandmother after not hearing from Leverette. He and the grandmother, Mary Edmonson, 66, found a door ajar and the two women dead, said Agent Ragina L. Cooper, a police spokeswoman.

Neighbors said they had heard no commotion or shots, but some said they saw two men trying to get into Leverette's car about 2: 30 a.m. yesterday. The car was towed by police.

"They were beautiful. They were always there for the family," Johnson's sister, Bonnet Edmonson, 39, said of her sister and niece.

It was uncertain how long the two women had been dead. Cooper said police were trying to determine who saw them last.

"We really don't have much information at all and not too many leads," Cooper said.

Family members displayed Johnson's photo on the red steps of one of the block's rowhouses, one-third of which are vacant.

Bonnet Edmonson said her niece "was a fun person" and that the victims were not involved with drugs.

Pub Date: 8/16/98