Man accused of strangling wife, leaving body on road, indicted on murder charges

FREEHOLD - An Ocean County man - accused of murdering his wife and leaving her body on the side of the road after they'd gone to see their son's band perform in Asbury Park in late October - has been indicted, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Tuesday.

Jeremy B. Cruz, 51, of Forked River, is charged with first-degree murder for the death of 51-year-old Dawn C. Cruz, the announcement said.

On Sunday, October 30, at around 1:30 a.m., a passing motorist at the intersection of Asbury and Colonial Avenues in Ocean Township spotted a woman who appeared to have severe injuries, Santiago said. The driver was unsure if the body - lying on the side of the road - was real or fake, but told a Monmouth County sheriff's 911 operator that the woman had a bloodied face, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Police officers from the township found the victim - later identified as Dawn Cruz - who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the announcement. Shortly after, at 1:16 a.m., Jeremy Cruz turned himself in at the Berkeley Township Police Department in Ocean County.

When he arrived at the department, a police sergeant found him standing outside his car with his hands on the roof, according to the court documents. He told the sergeant he "had arrived to turn himself in for murder," and explained that he had argued with his wife and strangled her as they were heading home from a night out in Asbury Park.

Cruz told police that he and his wife had been at a club that night, but he left alone after they'd began to argue, the affidavit said. After texting with her, she came out of the club and the two left in their Toyota Camry, but their argument continued and eventually turned physical.

The couple had spent their evening at Asbury Lanes, supporting their son Brandon and his local rock band The Haunting, while they played a Halloween gig. It was supposed to be the band's last performance in New Jersey before moving to Sweden to record, said the band’s front man and Brandon's lifelong best friend, Casey Marley Breidenbach. They had already signed a record deal.

According to the court documents, Cruz stopped in the area of Colonial Avenue and began strangling his wife in the car. The two got out of the car where he kept strangling Dawn Cruz until she died.

“That was supposed to be the happiest night of our lives and it turned out to be one of the worst," Breidenbach said.

The tragedy left 24-year-old Brandon and his brother, 18-year-old Jonah, reeling from the loss of their mother.

“The hardest part about losing her was that Brandon wasn’t only losing his mother, he was losing his best friend," Breidenbach said. “She was everything to him. At his lowest moments, she was the first person ever to get a call. She really, really was his rock. She was his best friend, his mother, and Jonah felt the same way.

Breidenbach said Dawn Cruz was a photographer and practiced yoga, and that the family's yard was always full of “underprivileged and disabled" dogs that Dawn Cruz fostered.

A GoFundMe called "Dawn's Boys" was started, and Breidenbach said the money is mostly to help Jonah, also a musician who just graduated high school and is taking night courses to become an audio engineer.

So far, the fundraiser has collected over $15,000.

Jonah Cruz is now living with an aunt and uncle, according to the GoFundMe page. Brandon Cruz lives with the band, Breidenbach said.

This case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Caitlin J. Sidley of the Major Crimes Bureau and Carey Huff of the Office’s Trial Unit, Santiago said. Cruz is represented by Adam S. Mitchell of Freehold Township.

Jenna Calderón covers breaking news and cold cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Before coming to the Press, she covered The Queen City for Cincinnati Magazine in Ohio. Contact her at 330-590-3903; jcalderon@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Forked River NJ man indicted in post-concert killing of wife