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Wednesday, nov 27
Tag:
DNA Evidence
News
Killer Who Made Pit Stop At Cape May Wawa Gets Life In PA Coworker's Murder
A man described by authorities as a "violent predator" was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday, Sept. 9 for kidnapping, robbing, and killing a Pennsylvania co-worker, authorities announced. Michael Allen Stark, 50, of Royersford, PA was found guilty by a Bucks County jury of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, theft by unlawful taking, flight to avoid apprehension, and abuse of a corpse, according to District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and court records. Stark's victim was 50-year-old Matthew James Branning of Sellersville, who went missing after l…
Police & Fire
Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Questionable DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home may have gotten her killer a new trial, but it didn't change the outcome. For a second time, a jury in Hackensack convicted Daniel Rochat on Wednesday of all charges in the brutal September 2012 slaying of real estate agent Barbara Vernieri in her East Rutherford home. Rochat, 48, of Wood-Ridge was originally convicted in June 2017 of beating Vernieri, then pouring gasoline on her and around her home before setting it on fire to cover up the crime scene. Pros…
Police & Fire
Guilty
! Serial Newark Rapist Attacked Woman With Infant Before BF Disarmed Him: Prosecutors
A serial rapist from Newark has been convicted of following an Irvington woman home and raping her at knifepoint as her 3-week-old son was on the floor nearby, authorities announced. Kervin Joseph-Michel, 43, kidnapped and sexually assaulted the 21-year-old woman in Irvington, after accosting her as she walked home carrying her three-week-old infant son on Nov. 4, 2015, according to Robert Florida, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The victim said Joseph-Michel repeatedly tried to engage her in conversation, but she rejected his advances and continued walking hom…
Police & Fire
Detectives Trying To ID Newborn Abandoned On NJ Trash 37 Years Ago
The day after Thanksgiving in 1986, sanitation workers in South Orange made a grisly discovery. A dead baby was found atop a trash can behind an apartment building at 5 Cottage Street in South Orange on Nov. 28, 1986, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. The body was wrapped in a towel and a yellow table runner and placed in a wicker picnic basket, which was left on the trash can, prosecutors said. The white male baby weighed five pounds and still had his umbilical cord, prosecutors said. For 37 years, detectives have been unable to identify the baby or his parents or relatives…
Police & Fire
Arrest Made In Knifepoint Sexual Assault Behind Phillipsburg Alleyway: Prosecutor
An Easton man was arrested over a year after authorities say he held a woman at knifepoint and sexually assaulted her behind a Phillipsburg alleyway. John H. Holmes, 40, of the 200 block of Northampton Street, was charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, criminal restraint, theft, and weapons offenses, Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer said in a release on Friday, Feb. 3. The woman had just gotten off of a bus in Easton when Holmes approached her and started following her across the Northampton Street Bridge toward Uni…
Police & Fire
Kohberger Victims, Roommate Were Reportedly Awake During Idaho Slayings: Affidavit
The probable cause affidavit in the quadruple murders of University of Idaho students was unsealed Thursday, Jan. 5 as prime suspect Bryan Kohberger appeared in court, suggesting that at least one of the victims and one surviving roommate were awake during the crimes. It was ultimately DNA on the button snap of a knife sheath that helped police identify the 28-year-old criminology PhD student as the suspect in the Nov. 13 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, according to the affidavit published in NewsNationNow. The affidavi…
News
Fugitive Dubbed 'Real-Life Tony Soprano' Couldn't Hide From The Law, Even In Death
He was considered one of the last of the old-time mobsters, a "real-life Tony Soprano" listed as one of New Jersey's most wanted fugitives. Even six feet under, though, Tony Mota couldn't evade his pursuers. After eluding capture for nearly 25 years for a gruesome murder committed in Hudson County, Anthony Mota was found buried in the country where he was born, the Dominican Republic. Mota had been collecting debts for high-level Colombian drug dealers in New York City when he and a group of accomplices abducted a Queens man on Dec. 13, 1997, authorities said. The victim, 38-year-old …
Police & Fire
One Of NJ's 'Most Wanted' Fugitives In Torture Execution Found Dead In Dominican Republic
One of New Jersey's most wanted fugitives in a kidnapping and execution of a Queens, NY man was found dead in the Dominican Republic, authorities announced. Anthony Mota kidnapped the victim on Dec. 12, 1997, then bound and tortured him with others for days until they got a ransom amount of $23,000 from the victim's family, United States Marshal for the District of New Jersey Juan Mattos, Jr., and NJSP Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan said. Soon after, Mota took the victim to an area along Interstate 280 in Harrison, and shot him in the head and neck, ki…
News
Flawed DNA Test Gets Bergen Man Doing Life For Beating, Burning Woman, 70, New Trial
DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home wasn’t reliable enough to convict a man who’s now serving a life sentence for her murder, a state appeals court ruled. Daniel Rochat, 46, of Wood-Ridge, has already been moved from New Jersey State Prison in Trenton to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack in anticipation of a new trial following the Appellate Division ruling. He remains charged with various counts of murder and felony murder, as well as aggravated arson, desecrating human remains, burglary, hindering arrest and f…
Police & Fire
Would-Be Robber With Toy Gun Nabbed After Clerk Yanks His Shirt Off
A would-be robber with a toy gun was arrested after a Pennsylvania 7-Eleven store clerk yanked his shirt off, authorities said. John E. Grubbs II, 44, of Philadelphia, was nabbed Wednesday after leaving his DNA-stained shirt at the Bensalem Township store, local police said. They did not specify the store's address. Investigators say Grubbs entered the store on Tuesday, pointed the gun at the clerk, and demanded that he open the register. They got into a fight once the cashier realized Grubbs' weapon was a toy gun, police said. During the struggle, the employee yanked Grubb…
News
DNA Leads To Felony Charges For Hawaiian Man Who Raped Girl, 14, in Pennsylvania, Say Police
DNA evidence led to the arrest of a Hawaiian man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in Lancaster County, according to police. Avery E.I. Sanchis, 23 of Hilo, Hawaii, was investigated by the Susquehanna Regional police following a report of a 14-year-old girl being raped in Bainbridge on August 7, 2020, according to court documents. DNA found at the scene was analyzed and matched to Sanchis, say police. He has been charged with the following: 3 counts of Rape (F1) 3 counts of Statutory Sexual Assault (F1) 3 counts of Aggravated Indecent Assault (F2) Corruption of Minors (F3) 3 count…
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: NJ Murder Suspect Who Charred Victim Captured At
Us-m
exico Border
A Union County man wanted for murder after burning a victim's body beyond recognition last year was captured in Texas at the border of U.S. and Mexico, authorities announced Tuesday. Plainfield's Oscar E. Rodriguez, 24, is facing charges of first-degree murder and second-degree desecration of human remains in connection with the death of David Chacon, 42, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said. Police responding to reports of human remains found Chacon's charred body at an outdoor area near the 800 block of West Front Street, said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Benza, …
Police & Fire
Murder, Rape Charges Dropped In Rutherford Woman's Beating Death After Judge Rejects DNA Proof
Murder and rape charges were dropped against a Guatemalan national accused of killing a 50-year-old Rutherford woman more than six years ago after a judge refused to allow prosecutors to use DNA evidence against him. Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said she had no choice, leaving the family of Karen Splettstoesser without justice. Rafael Camey is now in the hands of federal immigration officials who are expected to deport him. The issue bounced around the court system before coming to a halt last month. Superior Court Judge Marilyn C. Clark initially granted a defense request …
Police & Fire
Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders
Decades-old murders ordinarily require DNA evidence to solve, but not with a notorious New Jersey serial killer who authorities said admitted slaying three teenage schoolgirls in Bergen County more than 50 years ago. “Dogged investigation and relentless interviews” by BCPO Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti and Detective Capt. James McMurrow over the course of nearly 15 years got the confessions from Richard Cottingham, said author Peter Vronsky, who’s writing a book about a slew of cold-case New Jersey female killings. SEE: New Jersey Girl Murders Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella c…
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