Jersey City 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 Ridgewood Cliff, 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…
Ringwood 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 Tenafly 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…
