Ignacio Espinal captured five days after Alyne Espinal was found dead inside Somerville home
SOMERVILLE, NJ – A New Jersey man has been arrested and charged with murdering his wife five days after she was found dead with multiple wounds to her chest, neck and thigh inside a Somerville residence, prosecutors announced.
Ignacio Espinal, 55, of Somerville, was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 11, in West New York without incident in connection with the death of his wife, 46-year-old Alyne Espinal, according to Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald.
Espinal is charged with first-degree murder, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and third-degree hindering.
The investigation began Thursday, Aug. 6, when Somerville Police received a 911 call at approximately 7:26 p.m. expressing concern about the welfare of a woman living on Brookside Avenue.
Responding officers entered the residence and found Alyne Espinal suffering from multiple lacerations to her chest, neck and thigh, according to prosecutors.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives from the Somerville Police Department and Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and Crime Scene Investigations Unit responded to investigate.
Medical investigators from the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office also responded.
A subsequent postmortem examination determined that Alyne Espinal’s death was a homicide, prosecutors said.
Authorities did not disclose the specific cause of death beyond describing the injuries found when officers arrived.
Five days after Alyne Espinal was found dead, investigators arrested her husband in West New York.
Prosecutors did not provide details about what led investigators to Ignacio Espinal or disclose why he was in West New York.
Following his arrest, Espinal was transported to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office for processing and then taken to the Somerset County Jail.
He remains jailed pending a detention hearing.
The investigation received assistance from police departments in Union City, West New York and Paterson, along with the NYPD, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and several FBI units and task forces.
Anyone with information can contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or Somerville Police at 908-725-0331. Anonymous information can also be submitted through the STOPit app using access code SOMERSETNJ or through Somerset County Crime Stoppers at 1-888-577-TIPS.
The charges are accusations, and Espinal is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Key Points
- Ignacio Espinal, 55, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Alyne Espinal, 46.
- Alyne Espinal was found dead with multiple lacerations to her chest, neck and thigh at a Brookside Avenue residence in Somerville on Aug. 6.
- Ignacio Espinal was arrested five days later in West New York and remains in the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.
