GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - Murder charges have been filed against a southern New Jersey man accused of strangling his girlfriend.
Camden County prosecutors say bail was set at $750,000 for Joshua Rivera-Santos of Pennsauken. He’s charged in the death of 21-year-old Rebecca Ugarte, whose body was found Tuesday at his mother’s Gloucester Township home.
A possible motive for the slaying has not been disclosed.
Authorities say a cellphone charger was wrapped around Ugarte’s neck. An autopsy determined she died from blunt force trauma to the neck.
Prosecutors say Rivera-Santos’ mother saw Ugarte covered in blankets and lying in the basement on Tuesday morning, but believed she was sleeping.
When the mother returned home around noon and saw Ugarte was still in the basement, she questioned her son and soon realized Ugarte was dead.
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