Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced that an investigation revealed James T. Cox , 43, murdered his ex-wife, Ms. Massiel S. Deoleo, 34, of Mahwah, and afterward committed suicide.
Officials said on Saturday, at approximately 11:48 a.m., the Carlstadt Police Department received a phone call from a family member of Massiel S. Deoleo reporting her missing and stating that they were concerned for her well-being.
According to police, the family member said the last person she was with was her ex-husband, Cox , who lives at 601 6th Street, Carlstadt.
Police said at 11:55 a.m., another of Deoleo’s family members contacted the Mahwah Police Department and asked them to respond to her residence, where officers located numerous items of Deoleo’s personal property outside her residence.
Around that time, officers from the Carlstadt Police Department responded to 601 6th Street, Carlstadt, to speak with Cox.
Upon the officers’ arrival, Cox presented a semi-automatic weapon, pointed it to his head, and said he was not going to shoot officers but was going to take his own life.
Officers exited the residence and contacted the Bergen County Regional SWAT team. Crisis negotiators from the SWAT team spent numerous hours attempting to resolve the situation peacefully.
Police said at approximately 8:00 p.m., members of the SWAT team entered the residence and found Cox deceased from a single gunshot wound.
They also found Deoleo’s body in the residence and determined that she had been fatally shot sometime the previous night police said.
An investigation conducted by detectives from the Mahwah Police Department, the Carlstadt Police Department, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit revealed that Cox murdered Deoleo and then committed suicide.
Prosecutor Musella would like to thank the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the Mahwah Police Department, and the Carlstadt Police Department for their assistance in this investigation.