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Nicholas Piotti, 24, remained secured to his hospital bed under guard, charged with murder and weapons offenses in the brutal killing of Karen Spector Piotti.
The former lacrosse player at Ridgewood High School, Marist College and St. John’s University was “breathing normally,” a law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight. “But he hasn’t eaten and he isn’t talking to anyone.”
Police found the body of the elder Piotti inside the home around 3:30 a.m. The River Edge native was taken to the hospital but died from her injuries.
Nicholas Piotti was rushed to the intensive care unit of Bergen Regional Medical Center after he had difficulty breathing while being interrogated by detectives at the Bergen County prosecutor’s Paramus office around 9 a.m., another source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
He was served with a complaint at the hospital at 11:15 a.m. and remained in custody there, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said just after noon.
There was no word on when he might be moved to the county jail.
An initial appearance is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.
Nicholas Piotti
Officers from Allendale, the Bergen County Police Department, Ridgewood, Saddle River and Upper Saddle River responded along with Ho-Ho-Kus police to what initially was suspected to be a home invasion.
That quickly changed and Piotti — a former Dean’s List student at Marist — was taken into custody.
Investigators with the prosecutor’s office Mobile Crime Scene unit and Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification were also at U-shaped Timberline Drive, which was closed off at either end.
Ho-Ho-Kus is a town with virtually no violent crime. None was reported the first six months of this year or during the first six in 2013, according to the most recent New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Report.
Ridgewood won two Group III State Championships and a Bergen County championship with Piotti, a midfielder who was graduated in 2009 on the team. He was graduated from Marist in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications.
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