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James J. Pica, 58, beat Barbara Ann Bezzone, who was found lying on the floor unresponsive with severe injuries at a home on Prospect Street in Nutley around 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II said.
Bezzone, 84, was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m., and Pica was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Pica was found sitting on the home’s porch with “visible injuries to his hands” and told responding officers that he was “sleep-deprived from being the sole caretaker and that he had a bad temper,” according to the report, which cites an affidavit of probable cause.
Pica also told detectives that he hit Bezzone’s head and body, kicked her head after she fell on the floor -- then continued beating her into the next day.
Click here for the full report from NJ.com.
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