NJ man guilty of strangling wife after fight about her affair and his pension

🔴 Jeremy Cruz and his wife Dawn argued after a night of watching their son perform

🔴 Dawn Cruz threatened her husband with a divorce

🔴 Jeremy Cruz drove home where he told police he killed his wife

An Ocean County man was found guilty of strangling his wife to death in 2022 following an argument and leaving her body along the side of the road

Dawn Cruz, 51, of the Forked River section of Lacey, was found at 1 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2022, with severe injuries on Colonial Avenue in Ocean Township. Ocean Township police pronounced her dead at the scene.

Her husband, Jeremy Cruz, left the scene and surrendered to police in Berkeley, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said.

According to Asbury Park Press coverage of the trial, Jeremy Cruz told police he and his wife had been at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park to watch their oldest son perform with his band.

The couple argued non-stop and Dawn Cruz threatened to file for divorce and take his pension. She also admitted to having an affair, officials said. The charges were soon upgraded to first-degree murder.

Conviction during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

Prosecutors disproved the argument by Cruz's attorney that he was under the influence at the time, according to Santiago.

“This conviction happened to coincide with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, and it’s difficult to conceive of a crime more senseless, or a victim more deserving of justice, than a person killed by their spouse over nothing more than a simple argument,” Santiago said.

Cruz will be sentenced in August and faces possible life in prison.

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