What to Know
- A man who stabbed his wife more than 70 times in the apartment building where they lived has been convicted of murder
- Video from a security camera showed the woman fought for her life as she was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, chest, abdomen and buttocks
- A judge rejected defense claims that Jose Morel went in to a "dissociative trance" and wasn't responsible for his actions due to insanity
A man who stabbed his wife more than 70 times in the apartment building where they lived has been convicted of murder.
A judge issued the ruling Thursday following a bench trial, rejecting defense claims that Jose Morel had gone in to a "dissociative trance" and wasn't responsible for his actions due to insanity.
Jersey City police found 38-year-old Milagros Rodriguez De Morel in a hallway on Oct. 18, 2017. She was pronounced dead there a short time later.
The victim's son, who was 15 at the time, testified that Morel first stabbed his mother in the back while she was in the couple's bedroom. He said Morel then dragged her out of the apartment.
Video from a hallway security camera showed the woman fought for her life as she was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, chest, abdomen and buttocks.
Neighbors said they heard the man next door dragging his wife out of the apartment and down the hallway, their son begging him to stop the whole time.
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"He was screaming, 'Daddy, don't!,'" said Alena Riddick at the time of the killing, who'd been startled awake by a thumping sound and a "piercing" scream.
Neighbors said they had no idea there was a problem in the home. The couple had been living there together the last few years and neighbors had not seen any violent fighting.
Law enforcement sources said he was enraged because he thought she was cheating.
