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Prosecutor: Camden Man 'Staged' Girlfriend's Death To Look Like A Suicide

A 28-year-old Camden man is accused of staging his girlfriend's death to make it look like a suicide, authorities said.

Camden County police

Camden County police

Photo Credit: Camden County PD

Edwin Zavaleta has been charged first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez said on Wednesday.

Police responded to a home on the 1000 block of S. 6th St. at 8:45 a.m. on Monday on a report of a woman found unresponsive, they said. 

Police officers found Tonia Yamileth Zavaleta, 25, of Camden, in an upstairs bedroom with a visible injury to her neck, Mayer and Rodriguez said. 

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Tuesday, the Camden County Medical Examiner ruled Zavaleta’s cause of Death as a stab wound and blunt force trauma to the neck and her manner of death as a homicide, the prosecutor said. 

Detectives determined Edwin Zavaleta allegedly killed his girlfriend before staging it to appear as a suicide, according to Mayer and Rodriguez.

He was arrested and taken to the Camden County Correctional Facility where he was awaiting a detention hearing.

Anyone with information is urged to call CCPO Detective Elvin Nunez at 856-571-3421 or Camden County Police Detective Shawn Donlon at 856-757-7042. Tips also can be emailed to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.

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