Man, 71, charged with strangling 41-year-old woman in Franklin Township
Officers tried to save the victim but she was later removed from life support and declared dead Friday
A 71-year-old Franklin Township man, Dennis J. Hall, was charged with first-degree murder after strangling a 41-year-old woman in Franklin Township , Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew B. Johns announced in a news release Monday.
Police arrived at an East Avenue home at 6:16 a.m. on Thursday after Hall called to alert them the 41-year-old, whom the prosecutor’s office did not identify, was not breathing. Hall admitted to strangling her on the call to emergency services and to officers when they arrived at the scene, according to the news release.
A witness also told Franklin Township officers Hall woke them up the morning of the incident and admitted to strangling the woman.
Officers tried to save her life and she was taken to a local hospital. The following day, she was removed from life support and declared dead, according to the release.
On Sunday, the Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland Regional Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined the cause of death asphyxiation by homicide.
Hall was arrested at the scene and first charged with attempted murder, then first degree murder following the autopsy report.
He’s in jail pending the state’s motion for a pretrial detention. Hall faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
