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NJ Woman Who Outsmarted Serial Killer, Escaped In Handcuffs Dies At 44
Tiffany Taylor, a New Jersey woman whose testimony helped convict a serial killer she narrowly escaped while handcuffed, has died at age 44.
Taylor died in her sleep, according to her mother, Lola Acevedo, who shared the news in a GoFundMe campaign.
Raised in Jersey City's housing projects, Taylor eventually turned to sex work and robbing men. In 2016, she met Khalil Wheeler-Weaver through a friend and reportedly robbed him after spending several hours together, NJ Advance Media reports. She later agreed to meet him again at a hotel in Elizabeth, where the encounter took a terrifying t…
NJ Transit Bus Nearly Plunges Off Cliff In Bergen County, Driver Escapes Through Window
An NJ Transit bus nearly plunged over a steep, rocky embankment in Bergen County on Friday afternoon, Oct. 16, but a steel guardrail and several large boulders stopped it from going over the edge, incident photographer Boyd A. Loving reports.
The out-of-service bus was traveling down a steep hill on Glenwood Road in Ridgewood, just above NJ Transit's Ho-Ho-Kus train station, when the incident occurred, Loving said.
The driver, who was the only person aboard, managed to escape through an emergency window before firefighters arrived and was not injured.
Out of an abundance of caution, NJ Tra…
NJ Man, 80, Had 1,000+ Child Sex Abuse Files, Download Tracking Notes: Sheriff
An 80-year-old North Jersey man accused of possessing more than 1,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material allegedly kept a notepad to track his downloads and avoid saving duplicates, authorities said.
Gerard J. Hampel Jr., of Ringwood, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 15, following a months-long investigation by the Passaic County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Sheriff Thomas Adamo said.
The investigation began after detectives learned that an unidentified person had uploaded suspected child sexual abuse material to an image search engine in an apparen…
Man Charged In $20K Bergen County Check Fraud Scheme Years After Route 80 Police Chase
A New Jersey man once arrested following a high-speed pursuit on Route 80 has been charged again, this time in a nearly $20,000 check fraud scheme, authorities said.
Nicholas G. Didio-Slaaen, 27, of Garfield, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 15, following a two-year investigation by Tenafly Police Detective Michael Vecchiarelli, Deputy Chief Michael deMoncada said.
The investigation began in August 2024, when a victim mailed a legitimate $2,500 check to a contractor for work performed, deMoncada said.
The check was intercepted, altered to list Didio-Slaaen as the payee, and deposited into his p…
Ex-NJ Lt. Caught In Sexual Encounter By Husband Guilty Of Illegally Accessing Files: Prosecutor
A 46-year-old former Mantua police officer was convicted of official misconduct Friday, Oct. 16.
In 2021, Butler, a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs department in Mantua, was involved in an off-duty sexual encounter when the woman's husband found the pair in their home, leading to a fight, Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Johns said.
Rather than calling 911, Butler used the Mantua dispatch number, failing to identify himself as an officer, Johns said. He also refused to respond to questions from subordinate responding officers when asked about the events leading to the altercation, Joh…
NJ Middle School Teacher Held Man Down, Robbed Him In Hotel Room: Police
A man was robbed by two women he brought back to his hotel room in Atlantic City, authorities announced Friday, Oct. 16.
At 1:31 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, officers responded to Harrah's Atlantic City after a man said he met two women, Veda Engel and Amanda Crafts, Atlantic City police said. He went to their hotel room where they held him down and took his cell phone, Atlantic City police said.
They used the facial recognition feature to unlock his phone and transferred $1,250 from the victim’s Apple Pay account to Engel’s, police said. The man stated that the transactions were made without hi…
Family Of Slain NJ Girl, 9, Reported Abuse Weeks Before Her Death, Great-Grandma Says
For most of her young life, 9-year-old Maya Thomas knew a home filled with swimming, hiking, love, and two great-grandmothers who adored her. Now, those same women say they tried to save her after learning she was apparently being abused by her mother and stepfather just weeks before her death.
Maya was found severely injured outside her Paulsboro home early Tuesday, Oct. 13, after her mother, India Miller, and stepfather, Sean Scott, called 911 claiming she'd been struck by a car while walking her dog, Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Johns said.
But doctors found bruises covering …
Netflix Replaces Top Show Boss Behind Your Favorites After Nearly A Decade
The woman who oversaw some of Netflix's biggest hits, including "Stranger Things," "Wednesday," and "Squid Game," is leaving the streaming giant after nearly a decade.
Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer, is departing the company, Netflix announced Thursday, Oct. 15. Peter Rice, a former Disney and Fox executive, will replace her beginning Monday, Oct. 26.
The shakeup comes one day after Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told employees on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that the company was cutting about 1,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, in its largest round of layoffs yet d…
Bergen County Boy, 10, Thought News Report Of Aide's Sex Assault Was About Him: Lawsuit
A 10-year-old New Jersey boy read a news article in December 2023 about an after-school aide accused of sexually assaulting another child. Believing the story was about him, the boy revealed months of alleged abuse to his parents, according to a new lawsuit (attached at the bottom of this news article).
The lawsuit, filed Monday, Oct. 12, in Bergen County Superior Court, accuses the City of Englewood, its school district and Board of Education of failing to protect the boy from Johnathan Jones, a former aide at Dr. Leroy McCloud Elementary School.
Jones, then 21, was arrested in December 20…
NJ Girl Beaten To Death By Mom, Stepdad After Hit-Run Story Unravels: Prosecutor
A New Jersey mother and stepfather have been charged with murder following the death of a 9-year-old girl, authorities announced Thursday, Oct. 15.
At 1:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, India Miller, 27, and Sean Scott, 45, both Paulsboro residents, called 911 after Miller said she heard a loud sound, similar to tires screeching, before Scott went outside and found the girl by their shed, at 1:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Johns said. Miller said the girl was hit by a car while walking her dog, Johns said.
The girl was transported to a local hos…
Man, 26, Shot In Paterson, But Police Find No Evidence At Scene: Prosecutor
A 26-year-old man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound in Paterson, but police were unable to find evidence of a shooting where investigators believe it happened, authorities said.
Paterson police responded to St. Joseph's Hospital in Wayne around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, after receiving a report of a man with a nonfatal gunshot wound, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Officer-in-Charge Patrick Murray said.
Investigators determined the man had been shot near River and Putnam streets in Paterson, but officers found no evidence of a shooting in the area, au…
'Forever Chemicals' Detected In Bergen County Waterways: Here's Where
So-called "forever chemicals" have been detected in rivers, lakes and streams across all 21 New Jersey counties, including the Hackensack, Passaic, Raritan and Delaware rivers, according to federal water testing records.
The findings come as a new report released Tuesday, Oct. 13, by Environment America Research & Policy Center found PFAS chemicals at 83% of 1,602 locations tested nationwide between 2022 and 2024.
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals that break down slowly and can build up in the environment and human body over time. Long-term…
