By elaine van develde
Staff Writer
OCEAN GROVE –– A Christian Brothers Academy Latin teacher, charged with the brutal murder of an Ocean Grove woman, may face the death penalty.
Matthew Dailey, 30, of Millbrook Road, Brick, was arrested and charged with one count of murder after authorities found Linda Weed, 47, dead in her Central Avenue apartment in Ocean Grove Aug. 17.
Neptune Township police responded to Weed’s apartment after neighbors called 911 and reported hearing screams from her apartment at about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17.
Weed’s bludgeoned and stabbed body was found in the apartment "under a pile of pillows or cushions," Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said. "When police arrived, the door was ajar and the woman was lying there, obviously attacked and dead."
Neptune patrolmen Michael Adam and William Deurr arrived first at the scene and Adam started looking around in the area, Kaye said.
"He found Dailey walking a few blocks away by the [Ocean Grove] Great Auditorium," Kaye said. "Dailey had blood splattered all over his clothes. He was arrested, taken into custody and charged with one count of murder. When you have a murder where someone is apparently stabbed several times and you find a man walking in close proximity to the scene of the crime with blood all over his body and clothes, there is more than enough good reason to suspect this person of the crime."
Dailey is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $1 million bail with no 10 percent option.
"[Alleged] murderers do not get out on bail in this county — ever," Kaye said. "If he managed to make the bail, we would take it to the judge again and have it increased. He ran from the scene already (the day the murder occurred), so he’s clearly a flight risk."
Before the case goes in front of a grand jury in the next few months, Kaye said, prosecuting attorney Elaine Leschot will recommend to a review panel, made up of police detectives and lawyers, whether or not to pursue the death penalty.
"Every single homicide goes through this group [in the prosecutor’s office]," Kaye said.
Defending Dailey is Point Pleasant attorney Fred Popovich, who did not return calls.
The motive for Weed’s death is still under investigation, Kaye said. There has been some speculation, he said, and some witness accounts and statements, but the biggest clue in solving the crime is Weed’s body.
"Information we have indicates that Weed and Dailey had been fighting that day," Kaye said. "Allegedly she got aggressive and told Dailey she was going to call the school where he was a teacher (CBA) and tell the administration he was a drug addict, so he (allegedly) stabbed her. You have to realize, though, that when there is an investigation, and one of the people involved is alive and the other is dead, you tend to get a skewed version of what happened. When there is a ‘he said’ and no ‘she said,’ or vice versa, the information becomes gray."
The drug allegations and connection to the crime have not yet been confirmed, the prosecutor said.
"A toxicology screening has been performed on Weed’s body, not that it’s going to make any difference now," Kaye said. "But in about two to three months we’ll know if drugs played any part."
Monmouth County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jay Peacock performed an autopsy Aug. 18, the day after the murder, Kaye said.
It "disclosed that Weed had been severely beaten as well as stabbed," Kaye said. "There were nine small cuts in her neck and one very large cut which completely sliced her neck open. It looked almost as if it had been sawed open. Her face was severely pummeled and there were defensive wounds on her hands. She also had nine fractured ribs."
The nature of the wounds indicated that Weed had struggled and suffered a beating before the stabbing which ultimately killed her, Kaye said.
School employees are required to undergo criminal background checks before being hired and Dailey’s background check did not reveal any prior crimes, Kaye said. Any prior offenses would have made him ineligible to be hired by the school.
Dailey worked as a Latin teacher at CBA, located in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township. He received his bachelor’s degree "in the classics" from Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., Kaye said.
"We believe he was an athlete while an undergraduate student there. One of the judges [in Monmouth County] has a son who went to school with him. He was known as an athlete," the prosecutor said.
One student from CBA who knew him said he did not see any suspicious side to the teacher. Peter Milano, 17, of Middletown is going into his senior year at the school. He described Dailey as being quiet and unassuming.
"I never had Mr. Dailey [as a teacher], but in freshman year he wanted me to join wrestling. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. I never would have guessed he would do something the magnitude of what [he is accused of]. In school he always seemed like just a nice guy," Milano said.
CBA officials are taking an innocent until proven guilty view of the matter.
"Obviously we are all very distressed. We’re praying for the victim and her family and for Mr. Dailey and his family. We are asking that everyone pray along with us," a released statement from the school’s administration read.