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Mark Spatucci is charged with burglary and child endangement offenses in addition to seven first-degree murder- and sex assault-related counts in the brutal killing of Mary Greff in October 2013.
Mary Greff , Mark Spatucci
He remained held on $2 million bail today in the Bergen County Jail.
Prosecutors said Spatucci, 24, climbed through a second-floor window into her parents’ home while they were sleeping, got into an argument with her and either strangled or suffocated her before leaving the way he came in.
Asleep in another room was their son – named Mark, like his father and paternal grandfather.
Leon and Carol Ann Greff called authorities after they found the body of their daughter, who turned 23 two days before she was killed. A graduate of Midland Park High School, Spatucci became an immediate suspect. He was found in Midland Park, taken in for questioning and later charged.
Authorities said he washed the clothes he was wearing at the time of the crimes and deleted text messages between him and Greff. Semen samples recovered from two bodily cavities returned positive results against him, they said.
The felony murder charge stems from Spatucci allegedly sneaking into the home through the window, which under the law is a burglary. A killing committed during the commission of another felony gives rise to the additional count.
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CLIFFVIEW PILOT first broke the story of Spatucci’s arrest: Ex-boyfriend charged in murder of Waldwick woman
The PILOT also had the first account of the killing: Bergen prosecutor: Waldwick woman, 23, was strangled
RELATED: ‘We love you, Mark!’ spectator shouts at court appearance for accused killer of Waldwick woman
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Spatucci with defense attorney Aiden O’Connor at 2013 court appearance (FILE PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
The pair began dating sometime in 2011, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said after Spatucci’s arrest.
The couple lived with their son for a time at Spatucci’s Harrison Avenue apartment in Waldwick, but then Greff returned to live with her parents and the baby, the prosecutor said.
Greff had full custody, although Spatucci had visitation rights, he added.
The indictment alleges that Spatucci:
1 – 1st (degree) did purposely or knowingly cause the death, or serious bodily injury resulting in the death of Mary Greff
2 – 3rd did unlawfully enter the structure of Carol Greff and / or Leon Greff at 13 Mary Lane, with the purpose to commit an offense therein
3 – 1st did cause the death of Mary Greff while engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, flight after committing or attempting to commit the crime of burglary
4 – 1st did commit aggravated sexual assault upon Mary Greff, by performing an act of sexual penetration, to wi, anal intercourse upon the victim, the act having been committed during the commission of a homicide and / or burglary
5 – 1st did commit aggravated sexual assault upon Mary Greff by performing an act of sexual penetration, to wit: vaginal intercourse upon the victim, the act having been committed during the commission of a homicide and / or burglary, as alleged in Count One and / or Count Two herein,
6 – 1st did commit aggravated sexual assault upon Mary Greff, by performing an act of sexual penetration, to wit: anal intercourse, through the use of physical force or coercion, the victim sustaining severe personal injury
7 1st did commit aggravated sexual assault upon Mary Greff by performing an act of sexual penetration , to with: vaginal intercourse, through the use of physical force or coercion, the victim sustaining severe personal injury
8 – 1st did cause the death of Mary Greff while engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit the crime of sexual assault, to wit, anall penetration
9 2nd did cause the death of Mary Greff while engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit the crime of sexual assault, to wit, vaginal penetration
10 – 2nd having a legal duty for the care of, or who has assumed responsibility for the care of M>J>S., dob 2/3/2013, did cause harm to M>J>S., making M>J>S. an abused or neglected child
11 – 3rd with purpose to hinder the apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment of himself for conduct that would constitute a crime of the second degree or greater, suppress, by way of concealment or destruction, evidence of the crime, specifically, by washing the clothes he was wearing at the time of the murder
12 – 3rd with purpose to hinder his own detention, apprehension, investigation, prosecution, conviction or punishment for conduct that would have constituted a crime of the second degree or greater, give false information to a law enforcement officer
FILE PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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