After two weeks on the run, man caught in murder of estranged wife
Police arrested a New Jersey man Monday who had been on the run for two weeks after allegedly killing his estranged wife.
Police arrested a New Jersey man Monday who had been on the run for two weeks after allegedly killing his estranged wife.
Jeremiah Monell, 32, of Cedarville, was wanted on murder and weapons charges in the death of Tara O'Shea-Watson, 35, at her home in Commercial Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey state police said.
She was found dead Dec. 19. State police named Monell as a suspect the next day and announced his capture Monday evening.
A resident spotted Monell in Folsom, Atlantic County, on Monday afternoon, police said. Troopers found him hiding in a wooded area off Route 322. He was transported to a hospital for evaluation, police said, and would later be taken to jail.
According to the 911 call reporting O'Shea-Watson's death, her son found her dead and ran to his mother's friend's house for help the morning of Dec. 19.
"Oh, my God, she's been murdered," a man who identified himself as the husband of O'Shea-Watson's best friend said in a recording of the 911 call made public.
A state trooper told the Atlantic City Press that O'Shea-Watson died of "multiple puncture wounds."
State police and the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office had offered rewards totaling $3,500 for information that led to Monell's arrest. A judge set his bail at $1 million as state police led a manhunt.
The day after O'Shea-Watson's death, state police said they found Monell's pickup truck off Sawmill Road in Cedarville.
O'Shea-Watson's funeral was Dec. 23.
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