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Monet Thomas, 25, of Kearny remained on life support late Monday, the source said.
Thomas was visiting her boyfriend at the 258 Summer Street complex when she took her dog for a walk Saturday night.
She'd been gone too long when the boyfriend went looking for Thomas -- and found her body in the doorway of Francis "Frankie" Tattoli's first-floor apartment, the source said.
The boyfriend at first thought the body was Tattoli's, assuming the known drug user had overdosed, the source told Daily Voice.
Gas burners had been turned on and candles lighted, so Thomas's boyfriend went into the apartment to turn the gas off.
When he realized the body was hers, he desperately tried to revive her.
Then he heard Tattoli, 24 -- who'd sustained several defense wounds -- and beat him, the source said.
Tattoli “fled his apartment but was soon apprehended by East Rutherford police a short distance from the home,” the prosecutor said.
Tattoli -- who records show has a criminal history of burglary, obstruction and drug offenses -- remained held on $2 million bail in the Bergen County Jail.
Thomas, who Grewal said was unresponsive when police arrived, was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where the prosecutor said she remained in critical condition Monday night.
Tattoli's father, Michael Tattoli, was sentenced in October to six months in prison and six months of home confinement after admitting he used using $191,295 in income that he didn't report on his tax returns for personal expenses.
The elder Tattoli pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton in June to not reporting income on his 2010, 2011 and 2012 tax returns.
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