Former RI cop who shot himself had wife's body in car trunk

The former Rhode Island police officer who shot himself while being pursued by New Jersey state troopers Saturday night had the body of his murdered wife in his trunk, police said Sunday.

New Jersey State Police were looking for Franklin Osgood, a murder suspect, after Providence Police Department detectives alerted them that he may have been travelling on the New Jersey Turnpike in a 2007 black Dodge Charger.

Osgood apparently shot himself while being pursued by New Jersey state troopers.

Police searched Osgood's car and found his wife, Mary Jo, inside the trunk and she was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:25 a.m., according to a statement the New Jersey State Police posted on social media Sunday. A semi-automatic handgun found was in the passenger compartment, police said.

All lanes of the turnpike were closed Saturday night as the police investigated the incident.

Former Rhode Island cop shoot himself on NJ Turnpike

Osgood was a former Providence police officer who retired in 2007 on a disability pension, according to The Providence Journal Bulletin. The newspaper reported that the couple had four children and their daughter called police to report that her father was missing and distraught.

Providence police went to the couple's home and after searching the garage declared it a crime scene, according to The Providence Journal Bulletin.

Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said at a news conference Sunday morning that Osgood spoke to one of his children at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"He had clearly indicated verbally to a family member, one of his children, that he had caused harm to their mom, to his wife," Clements said Sunday. "As well he indicated that he had every intent to kill himself."

Clements said a Providence police officer was able to reach Osgood and was in constant contact with him.

Police issued a bulletin with information about Osgood’s car when they could not locate him.

"We felt that early on, this was going to have a very bad ending," Clements said Sunday.

Providence police had told New Jersey State Police that Osgood was considered armed and dangerous, according to the New Jersey State Police statement.

New Jersey state troopers spotted Osgood's vehicle around 9:30 p.m. Saturday — about 20 minutes after Providence police alerted them — near Interchange 18W in Ridgefield Park, according to police.

Osgood refused to pull over and lost control of his vehicle at milepost 117.1, going off the road, striking a guardrail and then hitting a police car, according to the statement.

Troopers approached the vehicle and found Osgood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 11:32 p.m., police said.

The New Jersey state trooper whose vehicle Osgood hit sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

The Providence Police Department is investigating the death of Mary Jo Osgood.