FREEHOLD, N.J. — An Ocean County man has been sentenced to 50 years in state prison for strangling his wife and abandoning her body on the side of a road in Ocean Township, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago. The sentencing was announced on Friday.
Jeremy B. Cruz, 53, of Forked River, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, for first-degree murder before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley.
Under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA), Cruz must serve at least 85% of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Police found his wife’s body dumped along the roadside.
“At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 30, a woman who appeared to have sustained severe injuries was observed by a concerned motorist at the intersection of Asbury and Colonial avenues in the Township of Ocean. Upon responding, Ocean Township Police Department officers located the victim, identified as Dawn Cruz, who was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene,” police reported at the time.
Cruz was convicted of the murder on April 24, 2024, following a trial before Judge O’Malley.
The incident occurred on October 30, 2022, when a motorist discovered the body of 51-year-old Dawn C. Cruz, who had sustained severe injuries, on Colonial Avenue near Asbury Avenue in Ocean Township. Responding officers pronounced her dead at the scene.
Around the same time, Jeremy Cruz surrendered to authorities at the Berkeley Township Police Department in Ocean County. A joint investigation involving the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and multiple law enforcement agencies led to his arrest and subsequent indictment in January 2023.
During the trial, the State successfully countered Cruz’s defense that he had been intoxicated at the time of the killing.
