NJ teen finds mother stabbed to death in home, suspect arrested in NYC
The alleged killer of a New Jersey woman whose teenage son woke up to find her stabbed to death in their Edison home, has been picked up in New York City, authorities in Middlesex County announced Monday.
Joan Franklin Polanco, 37, of Edison, was arrested hours after the fatal attack and charged with first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
His alleged victim was Lizbeth Benitez-Rivera, 37 and also of Edison, whose 16-year-old son woke up from a nap and “found his mother deceased with multiple stab wounds,” police said in a statement. Cops were called at 4:37 p.m. Sunday and pronounced Benitez-Rivera dead at the scene.
An investigation revealed that Polanco had been “seen entering the bedroom with a knife and leaving the residence shortly after the incident occurred,” police said.
The New York City Police Department caught up with the culprit at 8:36 p.m. near West 86th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan, NJ.com reported. Benitez-Rivera knew her killer, police said, but did not describe the nature of their relationship.
Polanco was being held in New York City pending extradition, according to NJ.com, and did not yet have a court date.
Middlesex County officials said the investigation “is active and continuing” and asked anyone with information to contact authorities in the police department or the prosecutor’s office.
