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Brandon Petersen, 31, of Newton, whose criminal history includes imprisonment for more than eight years for brutally stabbing a neighbor during a robbery, became the target of a manhunt following the Sunday night killing of a female victim in Delaware Township, they said.
Delaware Township police responding to a 911 call at 9:15 p.m. Sunday discovered that the victim had been taken by private vehicle to a local hospital in Mercer County, where she succumbed to her injuries, Acting Hunterdon County Prosecutor Michael Williams said.
“At no point during this incident was there any threat to the public," Williams said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victim.”
A Sussex County judge sentenced Petersen to 13 years in prison in 2008 after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly stabbing a neighbor during a purse snatching-turned-robbery three years earlier, when he was 15, records show.
Petersen admitted that he stuffed his blood-stained clothes and the 57-year-old victim's purse into a bag that he threw into Lake Lenape in Andover Township after he rushed her as she got into her car.
He ended up stabbing her several times in the head, cheek, forehead and wrists, with part of the knife breaking off into her head, authorities said, adding that the victim bled so heavily that it shorted out her cellphone as she dialed 911.
Petersen was on juvenile probation at the time after authorities said he killed a goose and shot a paintball gun at moving vehicles.
Petersen spent a total of nearly 10 years behind bars before a release in August 2019, records show.
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