60°
Arthur Lomando -- who lost both feet in the suicide attempt -- ambushed Suzanne Bardzell on Oct. 22, 2016, stabbing her 34 times in what prosecutors called one of the most heinous killings in Bergen County history.
Ignoring his defense attorney's bid for a 30-year prison term, Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Foti gave Lomando life on Friday for his February convictions of first-degree murder, stalking, hindering, weapons offenses and other counts.
Lomando, 48, was under a temporary restraining order when he drove a rental car to Bardzell's Godwin Avenue home after leaving his own vehicle behind in Hackensack.
He apparently had been waiting for some time before attacking the 48-year-old special education teacher with a large "Rambo-styled survival knife," a law enforcement source told Daily Voice at the time.
She'd pulled into her driveway when Lomando suddenly rushed up and smashed her car window with the knife handle, then opened the door and began stabbing her.
All of it was captured by an outdoor surveillance camera that produced a video shown to the jurors during Lomando's trial.
Bardzell and Lomando had been in court in Hackensack just three days before she was killed for a final hearing on her request for a permanent restraining order against him.
The hearing was adjourned -- with the temporary order still in effect -- after both asked for more time, a courthouse source told Daily Voice.
Earlier that month the discovery of Lomando's abandoned car outside her home sparked a massive search involving no fewer than 18 police agencies. It eventually ended after he called his lawyer to surrender. Lomando later posted bail and was released.
******
ALSO SEE: An unemployed man who lives across the street from Midland Park Junior Senior High School was caught with more than 250 images of child pornography, authorities said.
******
Authorities recovered the rental car in Harlem after Lomando threw himself in front of a subway train later the same day, costing him both feet (SEE: Prosecutor: Ex-Officer Who Killed Midland Park Mom Tries Subway Suicide).
They also recovered his own car in an area of River Street in Hackensack where a trio of rental agencies are located.
Defense attorneys claimed Lomando had suffered from a mental illness and didn't realize what he was doing when he killed her. They pointed to hospitalizations that included one in 2003 for depression and another in 2015 when they said he'd been suicidal.
Prosecutors produced mounds of evidence that included, among other items, the driveway videotape, police complaints and civil charges that Bardzell had filed against him and temporary restraining order violations committed by Lomando.
Once, he broke into her home and threatened to kill her while wielding a pair of scissors, authorities said.
Lombando also sent nude photos of Bardzell to administrators at Community High School in Teaneck, claiming she’d posted them on social media.
After jumping in front of the train, prosecutors said, he texted a note to his family saying: “I killed Sue, she forced my hand.”
******
ALSO SEE: A Bergenfield man was convicted by a jury in Hackensack on Friday of killing his girlfriend in her Edgewater apartment, dismembering her body and dumping it in the Hudson River two summers ago.
******
Click here to follow Daily Voice Paterson and receive free news updates.
