Ex-con murdered woman on NJ estate of former U.S. senator

🔴 The victim was stabbed during a drug-fueled party at a former U.S. senator's home

🔴 The killer is a career criminal who's spent most of his life in prison

🔴 He could spend the rest of his life behind bars

FLEMINGTON — A career criminal could be back behind bars permanently after a Hunterdon County jury last week convicted him of murdering a woman at a drug-fueled party in 2020.

Brandon E. Petersen, 33, of Newton, faces at least 30 years to life when he is sentenced in July.

After a three-week trial, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, fourth-degree unlawful taking of a vehicle.

A driver's license photo of Brandon Petersen released by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office after his arrest.

Petersen fatally stabbed 38-year-old Michele Carkhuff in her neck while they were preparing food in the kitchen, a witness told police.

Friends rushed Carkhuff to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Before police could arrive, Petersen drove off the sprawling 12-acre Delaware Township property owned by former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, who was living in Florida at the time.

Robert Torricelli pictured in an AP photo in January 2020. A home at his property in Delaware Township. (Realtor.com

Police found Petersen the next morning, with blood on his clothes, after his girlfriend alerted police. She said Petersen had called her to go pick him up in Pennsylvania, investigators said.

Lifetime of crime and violence

Petersen has already spent most of his life behind bars.

Department of Corrections file photo of Brandon Petersen

When he was 15, he tried to rob a neighbor to pay off a drug debt. In doing so, he nearly killed the victim by breaking off a knife in the woman's head, causing so much blood loss that it short-circuited her phone while she called 911.

Petersen copped a plea deal that spared him from an attempted murder charge, instead getting a 13-year sentence for first-degree robbery and aggravated assault.

Incarceration did little to rehabilitate him.

He was arrested in 2016 on a cocaine possession charge, just months after leaving prison. After completing another year in prison, he was arrested again four months later.

He was last released from prison in August 2019.

When he is sentenced by Superior Court Judge Angela F. Borkowski in July, his murder conviction will carry a 30-year period of parole ineligibility.