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Obituaries
Beloved North Jersey Mom Of 2 Laurie Uffer Dies Suddenly At Age 40 Beloved North Jersey Mom Of 2 Laurie Uffer Dies Suddenly At Age 40
Beloved North Jersey Mom Of 2 Laurie Uffer Dies Suddenly At Age 40 Beloved North Jersey mother of two Laurie Uffer died unexpectedly on Tuesday, Feb. 8. She was 40. Uffer grew up in Mount Olive, where she graduated high school in 2000, her obituary says. She later attended County College of Morris and had most recently been working as a home health provider in Washington, where she lived at the time of her death, her memorial says. Uffer was known for her wide range of interests, including horseback riding, traveling, deep-sea fishing, and spending time with her many close friends. Above all, Uffer is remembered for embracing her role as a caring mother …

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by Valerie Musson
News
Driver Knocked Off Route 80 By Tractor Trailer Settles Suit For $2 Million Driver Knocked Off Route 80 By Tractor Trailer Settles Suit For $2 Million
Driver Knocked Off Route 80 By Tractor Trailer Settles Suit For $2 Million A lumber salesman whose car was knocked off Route 80 in Morris County by a tractor-trailer owned by a Long Island company has reportedly received a $2 million settlement for his injuries. Kevin Smith, 49, of Newton was headed east in the slow lane when the rig drifted from the center lane and bumped his car, sending it careening off the highway in Mount Olive on June 25, 2019, police said at the time. Smith, formerly of Hackettstown, underwent surgery for "multiple fractures and herniations of the lumbar spine," the New Jersey Law Journal reported. He later spent a week in a rehab center a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Driver Hospitalized After Train Hits Tractor-Trailer In Morris County Driver Hospitalized After Train Hits Tractor-Trailer In Morris County
Driver Hospitalized After Train Hits Tractor-Trailer In Morris County A tractor-trailer driver was hospitalized after the vehicle was struck by a train in Morris County Tuesday morning, authorities confirmed. Morris & Essex Line train 851 hit the trailer at the crossing at the Stanhope Waterloo Valley Road in Mount Olive around 11:20 a.m., NJ Transit spokesperson Mariluz Garcia-Diaz told DailyVoice.com. The train departed Hoboken terminal at 9:13 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Hackettstown at 11:28 a.m., Garcia-Diaz said. The tractor-trailer driver was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said. The…

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by Valerie Musson
News
6-Year-Old NJ Boy Killed In Route 80 Crash Was Firefighter's Grandson 6-Year-Old NJ Boy Killed In Route 80 Crash Was Firefighter's Grandson
6-Year-Old NJ Boy Killed In Route 80 Crash Was Firefighter's Grandson Support is skyrocketing for the family of the beloved 6-year-old boy killed in a devastating hit-and-run crash on Route 80 just two days before Christmas. The Mount Olive boy was killed after a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox struck a Honda HRV and fled the scene near milepost 28.5 in Roxbury around 7:45 p.m. Thursday, DailyVoice.com reported. The victim, identified as Lorenzo Van Dine, is the grandson of a Budd Lake firefighter, the department said in a heartbreaking Facebook post. As many in the community have heard of the loss of Lorenzo Van Dine this tragedy hits particularly close to home…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Woman Wanted For Heroin Distribution In Sussex County: Police Woman Wanted For Heroin Distribution In Sussex County: Police
Woman Wanted For Heroin Distribution In Sussex County: Police A Sussex County woman is wanted out of Hackettstown for heroin distribution, local authorities announced. A warrant was issued Nov. 19 for 28-year-old Chelsea M. Pruden of Andover, Hackettstown police said. Specifics were not released. Pruden was arrested for crack and heroin possession following a traffic stop over the summer in Mount Olive. Anyone who knows her whereabouts is urged to call HPD at 908-852-3300.

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ Teacher Re-sentenced For Deadly Shooting Of Angelina Jolie's Former Bodyguard NJ Teacher Re-sentenced For Deadly Shooting Of Angelina Jolie's Former Bodyguard
NJ Teacher Re-sentenced For Deadly Shooting Of Angelina Jolie's Former Bodyguard Virginia Vertetis, infamously known as a “lady killer,” was sentenced to 20 years in New Jersey State Prison on Friday, according to a release by the Morris County police and court documents. Vertetis, 59, of Mount Olive, NJ, was first investigated following the murder of her boyfriend Patrick Gilhuley, as CBS News reported during her trial in 2018. Gilhuley, a retired New York Police Department officer and celebrity bodyguard for clients such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, was found dead at their home at 2 Apollo Way in Flanders on March 3, 2014 just before 10 p.m. Vertetis was cha…

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by Jillian Pikora
Obituaries
Teen Dies Week After Route 46 Crash Teen Dies Week After Route 46 Crash
Teen Dies Week After Route 46 Crash An 18-year-old Mount Olive resident died nearly a week after a Route 46 crash that injured him and four others, according to Morris County officials and the victim's relatives. Dondrei Martin had been in the ICU at Morristown Medical Center ever since he was flown by a medical chopper in the Oct. 23 crash, according to a GoFundMe page launched by Kayla Greco. The sting of Grief has taken a hold of our hearts in the transition of Dondrei Martin, the precious son of Deborah Henry... Posted by Angie McDonald on Monday, November 1, 2021 Greco updated the page on Oct. 31 saying Martin had di…

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by Valerie Musson & Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
PHOTOS: Driver Hospitalized After Being Struck By Train In Morris County PHOTOS: Driver Hospitalized After Being Struck By Train In Morris County
Photos: Driver Hospitalized After Being Struck By Train In Morris County A driver was hospitalized after being struck by a train in Morris County Wednesday night, authorities said. The driver was struck by the Montclair Boonton Line train 1085 at Waterloo Valley Road in Mount Olive around 9:15 p.m., an NJ Transit spokesperson told Daily Voice. The train had departed the Hoboken terminal at 7:22 p.m and was scheduled to arrive at Hackettstown at 9:31 p.m, authorities said. The driver was taken to Morristown Medical Center with injuries deemed non-life-threatening, authorities said. The one person onboard the train was uninjured.

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by Valerie Musson
Lifestyle
Community Supports NJ Family After Mom With COVID Fever Falls Down Stairs, Suffers Brain Trauma Community Supports NJ Family After Mom With COVID Fever Falls Down Stairs, Suffers Brain Trauma
Community Supports NJ Family After Mom With COVID Fever Falls Down Stairs, Suffers Brain Trauma Community support is surging for a North Jersey family with a beloved wife and mother still in the hospital suffering brain trauma months after a COVID-19 fever caused her to faint, fall down the stairs and have a stroke. Sal Caradonna Jr. says his wife of more than 20 years, Trudy, fainted from a COVID-19 fever and fell down the stairs in their Mount Olive home March 18 around 4 a.m. “I was sleeping in a separate bed when I heard a crash in our dining room; thinking it was a piece of furniture falling to the ground,” Caradonna writes on a GoFundMe he launched for medical exp…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
$980,000 Settlement Reached In Case Of Morris Student, 14, Kissed, Groped By Teacher $980,000 Settlement Reached In Case Of Morris Student, 14, Kissed, Groped By Teacher
$980,000 Settlement Reached In Case Of Morris Student, 14, Kissed, Groped By Teacher A local school board in Morris County reportedly is paying $980,000 to settle a civil suit brought by the family of a former middle school student whose teacher admitted groping and making out with her.  Eric Strand, 61, who was also a Boy Scout leader and firefighter, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to child endangerment and criminal sexual contact for kissing the 14-year-old Hopatcong Middle School eighth grader several times and grabbing her butt over her clothing the year before. He was sentenced to three years in state prison In exchange for his plea, then was released after serving 36…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJSP Employee, Bergen County Native Killed In Route 46 Motorcycle Crash NJSP Employee, Bergen County Native Killed In Route 46 Motorcycle Crash
Njsp Employee, Bergen County Native Killed In Route 46 Motorcycle Crash A communication systems technician for New Jersey State Police died after being ejected from his motorcycle in a Budd Lake crash, local police said. John Zaki of Landing was headed eastbound on Route 46 when he was struck by a 2002 Toyota near Chamberlain Road on Sept. 29 around 2 p.m., Mount Olive police said. Responding officers found Zaki's motorcycle under the Toyota driven by Brielle Kraus, who was turning left onto the roadway from a driveway, authorities said. Zaki -- thrown from his bike -- was airlifted to Morristown Medical Center where he died of injuries sustained in the crash,…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: NY Corrections Officer 'Forcibly Penetrated' Mount Olive Teen, Took Money Back Prosecutor: NY Corrections Officer 'Forcibly Penetrated' Mount Olive Teen, Took Money Back
Prosecutor: NY Corrections Officer 'Forcibly Penetrated' Mount Olive Teen, Took Money Back A New York corrections officer is accused of forcibly penetrating a 16-year-old girl in Mount Olive -- then taking back the money he gave her in exchange for sexual acts and walking out, said authorities who charged him. Michael Rivera, 26, of Glen Spey, N.Y., contacted the girl online and then offered her money in exchange for sexual acts around the time of Fourth of July 2018, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp said. Rivera gave the teen money in exchange for sexual acts when they met a few days later in Mount Olive, Knapp said. "When the victim indicated that she did not wan…

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by Cecilia Levine