Dumont man charged with murder after allegedly attacking mother with a fire poker
A 40-year-old Dumont man was arrested on Sunday after he allegedly used a fire poker to kill his 79-year-old mother, law enforcement officials said.
Patrick Maupai was charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses in the assault of his mother at their single-family home at 124 New Milford Ave., across from the Dumont High School.
Police received a 911 call around 11:53 p.m. Saturday from Patrick Maupai, who said he had "attacked" his mother with the fireplace tool, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. When police responded, they found Maupai on the front lawn, on the phone with police.
Authorities said they found Maupai's mother, whose name was not released, on the floor of the living room with multiple lacerations on her face, which was covered in blood. Maupai, who police said is unemployed, was immediately taken into custody.
The colonial home with a brick lower exterior and pale blue upper siding, which sold in 2016, according to assessment records, sits on the corner of Holt Street and is, like many of the homes, just feet away from its neighbor. While police activity had subsided by Sunday afternoon, a lone Dumont police officer was parked at the high school nearby.
"I am reeling," said Jean Nichols, a neighbor who expressed her bewilderment at the reported assault.
Nichols, who has lived in the same house for 55 years, said she was shocked when her daughter in Bergenfield called her Sunday morning to tell her about the incident. Nichols' house is diagonally across from the alleged crime scene, but she said she slept through the activity during the night.
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Nichols described the "tiny, bedroom community" as one where everyone just keeps to themselves. She never saw any activity at the alleged victim's house and couldn't recall ever conversing with the woman who lived there. She believed she had moved there within the past five to 10 years, because Nichols' daughters were friends with the prior family's children.
But having a crime in the community she has called home for over five decades really shook her.
"This doesn't happen in Dumont," she said as she clutched a hand to her chest. "I bought this house new 55 years ago, and this community has been wonderful to live in. There has never been any crime here."
Boris Eydlish, who lives two houses over, echoed her thoughts. He was awakened during the night by the ambulances and police activity blocking off his road — an unusual sight.
"Nothing like this has ever happened around here," Eydlish said. He has lived in the neighborhood for about 14 years.
Eydlish said he had never interacted with the alleged victim, but that he saw activity in the driveway on Saturday and thought there might have been a family gathering. It was always quiet there, Eydlish said, adding, as Nichols did, that there was never activity visible at the home; the woman who lived there rarely emerged from it.
The house was quiet on Sunday, and no one answered the door.
Maupai is in the Bergen County Jail pending an initial court hearing.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Dumont man charged with murder after mother attacked with fire poker
