Gloucester County man, 71, charged with murder of 40-year-old female relative

⚠️ A Gloucester County man is charged with murder after a family member died following a reported strangulation.

➡️ Prosecutors said Dennis Hall admitted to the killing during a 911 call and again to responding officers.

🔴 The charge was upgraded from attempted murder after an autopsy ruled the death a homicide.

A Gloucester County man is accused of strangling a relative to death and then calling police himself.

Dennis J. Hall, of Franklin Township, was charged with first-degree murder after the 40-year-old female victim died, Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew B. Johns said.

Police on Tuesday gave the victim's age as 41 — however an obituary shows that she would have turned that age in August.

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Police say Hall admitted to strangling the victim

On Thursday after 6 a.m., Franklin Township Police responded to a call that a woman was not breathing at an East Avenue home.

Hall admitted to strangling the victim, both while talking to a dispatcher and to officers when they arrived.

Another woman at the home also told police that Hall had woken her up and admitted to strangling the victim, according to an affidavit filed by investigators.

Officers performed CPR on the victim, who was taken to a local hospital.

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Dennis Hall is charged with murder in female relative's death

Autopsy leads to upgraded murder charge

She was removed from life support and pronounced dead the next day. An autopsy on Sunday by the Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland Regional Medical Examiner confirmed the cause of death as asphyxiation and the manner of death as homicide.

Hall was arrested at the scene and initially charged with attempted murder. Once the autopsy was completed, the charge was upgraded.

He has remained at the Salem County Jail, and the state will request he be held for pretrial detention.

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