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On Friday, Oct. 4, a Middlesex County Superior Court Judge ordered Wellington Leonardo, 45, jailed pending his trial in the stabbing death of his wife, Rosanna Rodriguez, on the kitchen floor of their Perth Amboy home, in front of their children, according to News12 and MyCenralJersey, and police papers obtained by Daily Voice.
Appearing over video link, Leonardo sobbed as the recording of the 911 call was played, News12 says. In the recording, the operator can be heard telling the couple's 13-year-old child to stay in another room with her sister and yell to the police from the window. Rosanna can be heard yelling for help in the background.
An affidavit for probable cause obtained by Daily Voice says Leonardo stabbed Rodriguez after she said she wanted to end their relationship.
Leonardo and Rodriguez were found lying face up on the kitchen floor of their Bertrand Avenue home around 3 a.m. Sept. 21 — Leonardo partially on top of Rodriguez's body and covered in blood, authorities said. A knife was near Rodriguez's feet.
A child, whose name was redacted, told police she woke up to her mother screaming and saw her father stabbing her mother in the stomach, the affidavit says. Rodriguez told her daughter to call 911, so the girl ran to her mother’s room to do so. When she returned to the kitchen, she saw her father still stabbing her mother.
The girl threw a black bag at her dad’s head, “which resulted in him turning and looking at her with a blank stare,” police papers said. The girl returned to her mother’s room with her sisters until police arrived.
“A murder in front of your children is utterly monstrous," Assistant Prosecutor Brian Shevlin said during the hearing, News12 and MyCentralJersey report. "And what we do with monsters, judge, is lock them up."
A GoFundMe campaign launched for Rodriguez's four daughters ages 13, 11, 3, and 11 months, had raised more than $30,000 as of Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Rodriguez's obituary said she was born in the Dominican Republic and had been working as a residential apartment inspector while living in Perth Amboy.
Click here for more from News12 and here for more from MyCentralJersey.
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