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Man charged with killing woman found in suitcase in Egg Harbor Twp.

Tara Alicea, 30, of Gloucester County, N.J., from a picture on her Facebook page. A hunter found her remains in a suitcase hidden in woods in Egg Harbor Township.
Tara Alicea, 30, of Gloucester County, N.J., from a picture on her Facebook page. A hunter found her remains in a suitcase hidden in woods in Egg Harbor Township.Read more
    by Emily Babay, PHILLY.COM
    Published 

A man has been charged with killing a Gloucester County woman whose remains were found in a suitcase in Egg Harbor Township in January.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said 27-year-old Steven Stallworth, of Pleasantville, has been charged with murder and desecration of remains in the slaying of 30-year-old Tara Alicea.

A police officer who was hunting in a wooded area of Egg Harbor Township, behind the former Shore Mall site, on Jan. 5 found Alicea's decomposed remains inside a suitcase.

Prosecutors say Alicea, of Monroeville, was strangled and the state Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a homicide. She was identified from her tattoos and fingerprint analysis.

Officials didn't say how Stallworth was identified as a suspect or whether he knew the victim.

He was taken into custody Tuesday and was being held on $2 million bail.