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Witnesses told investigators that Charles J. Ann drove off in the middle of a February 2012 argument with 25-year old Aena Hong near the intersection of Inwood Terrace and Anderson Avenue in Fort Lee — then turned around his 2011 Hyundai Sonata and gunned the accelerator.
After the car struck her, they said, Ann “put the car in reverse and backed up over the victim,” then “drove forward over [her] at least three times, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT following the incident.
Authorities said Hong had broken up with Ann, a Korean native and naturalized American citizen who isn’t being offered a plea bargain, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer said yesterday.
Defense attorney Brian Neary responded that he will be looking to suppress statements that Ann gave police when he was arrested. Neary said he also has some “search issues.”
Bail for Ann, 27, who came to the U.S. in 2009 and has a large extended family overseas, according to authorities, remains at $3 million. He’s charged with criminal homicide.
Ann took off after the incident. The Sonata was found on Tenth Avenue, a short distance from where Hong was struck.
A bulletin was issued and Ann was arrested less than 12 hours later by detectives from Molinelli’s office and the NYPD at a friend’s apartment in Flushing.
He was carrying his passport and “a large sum of cash,” indicating that “he was attempting to flee the country,” Molinelli said.
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