Boyfriend charged with murder of tattooed woman found in NJ fridge
A New Jersey man is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found in a refrigerator dumped in the New Jersey woods last year.Christopher Blevins, 45, of Runnemede, was apprehended on a beach in San Diego on Jan.13 after traveling to Mexico.
He was charged with the murder of Laura Hughes, 50, and extradited back to New Jersey.The murder charge comes on top of charges filed in Cape May County Jan.3, while Blevins was still on the run, that included second-degree desecration of human remains and third-degree hindering apprehension, the Camden County prosecutor’s office said.Hughes, the mother of two daughters aged 18 and 13 from a previous relationship, was found deceased in the refrigerator in Belleplain State Forest in Cape May County on Dec.
22.Police found the refrigerator wrapped in a sleeping bag, covered in carpet and tied with blue ratchet straps, according to an affidavit.They released a photo recreating the distinctive tattoos on the body before identifying her as Hughes.The father of her daughters, Cornel Alston, was informed on Dec.
30 that the remains had been identified as Hughes, according to a GoFundMe for Hughes’ family.Cops say Blevins dumped Hughes’ body in the refrigerator in the forest in July before running off to Mexico.His green pickup truck was seen with a refrigerator-shaped object in the back in late July, police said.The two had a history of domestic violence, according to media reports.Blevins camped out in Mexico for weeks, according to the affidavit, before telling authorities in Mexico City on Aug.
27 that he fled the US after he “panicked” after something violent happened in Runnemede, indicating he might have killed someone in a bar fight.It’s not clear what happened between the time he spoke with Mexican authorities and when he was picked up in Ocean Beach near San Diego, when cops spotted him and another man kicking sand on flames on the beach, the NBC affiliate in San Diego...