Body of woman found in Millstone River in Montgomery
By: Purvi Desai
HILLSBOROUGH A Hillsborough woman fatally stabbed her daughter Saturday and then took her own life according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and the Hillsborough Township police.
The woman’s minivan was found in Montgomery Township and her body was later found nearby in the Millstone River, authorities said.
County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest and Hillsborough Township Police Chief Paul Kaminsky said detectives from the prosecutor’s Major Crimes Squad and local police are investigating the deaths of 21-year-old Sara Emiliano and 57-year-old Emmalene Emiliano, as a result of what they believe to be a murder and a suicide.
Mr. Forrest said that about 6:45 p.m. Saturday Hillsborough police responded to a 911 call from a Tally Ho Trail residence reporting that a male caller had just discovered his daughter, Sara Emiliano, dead in their home in the Belle Mead section of Hillsborough.
Upon arrival, police said they discovered the body of Ms. Emiliano, who had been stabbed multiple times. Police said they also found a note in the home, apparently left by the mother, which led police to believe she may have had something to do with her daughter’s death.
A county alarm and roadblock was activated in an attempt to locate the mother or her vehicle, who was not at the residence.
Emmalene Emiliano’s 1998 red Dodge Caravan was found unoccupied on Riveredge Road, just off Belle Mead-Griggstown Road in Montgomery by a Franklin police officer at about 10:45 p.m.
Witnesses told police that they saw a woman matching Ms. Emiliano’s description park the car there at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday and walk down Belle Mead-Griggstown Road toward River Road.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning detectives and police from the municipalities that border the Millstone River began checking the areas along the river.
At approximately 8 a.m. Sunday, Montgomery police located a body submerged in the river, a short distance from Belle Mead-Griggstown Road. The Somerset County Dive-Rescue Team responded and recovered the body, later identified as Ms. Emiliano.
On Saturday night, shortly before midnight, detectives and an assistant prosecutor obtained search warrants for the Tally Ho Trail residence as well as for the three family vehicles. Detectives recovered two kitchen style carving knives and a hatchet through the searches.
Mr. Forrest and Chief Kaminsky said that their investigation into the case is continuing.
The autopsy of Emmalene Emiliano was scheduled for Monday at the regional medical examiner’s office in Newark, while an autopsy performed Sunday on Sara Emiliano at the same office revealed she had died from multiple stab wounds to her head and torso.
Mr. Forrest and Chief Kaminsky ask that if anyone has any information that could assist police in this investigation to contact either the Hillsborough Police Department at 369-4323, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad at 231-7100 or the Somerset County Crime Stoppers TIPS Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are confidential.