WOODBRIDGE — Family members are mourning the death of a mother of four whose ex-boyfriend allegedly stabbed her before later being shot dead in a standoff with police.
Dina Marie Heil, 46, of the Parlin section of Sayreville, was pronounced dead at 4:35 p.m. Oct. 5 at Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge Division.
“Dina was a good-hearted woman, always was helpful to people,” said her brother, Frank Musarra of Sayreville, who was with their mother as he spoke.
Musarra said his younger sister loved her children, two who are grown and two of whom are younger. She also held her family very dear, he said, adding that Heil had lost her father last year.
“She and [alleged killer] Rodney [Jencsik] were broken up in 2014, shortly after our father passed,” he said. “He became a relentless stalker and my sister had filed a restraining order this past Tuesday in Sayreville. There was a court date set for this Friday.
Woodbridge police shot Jencsik, 50, around 7:30 p.m. outside his Freddie Avenue trailer home in Avenel hours after he allegedly inflicted fatal stab wounds on Heil and injured an unidentified man, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.
The man was treated for stab wounds at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, police said.
According to Jencsik’s boss and longtime friend, Danny Noonan, the injured man was Heil’s ex-husband. “They liked each other,” he said of Jencsik and Heil’s ex-husband, adding, “I don’t know how this whole thing transpired.”
Noonan also said Jencsik had received a stab wound during the attacks, but it remains unclear how, or if, that may have occurred.
The standoff between Jencsik and police began around 4 p.m., an hour after the stabbing at a home on Englishtown Road in Old Bridge, police said. Following a call at 2:35 p.m., the Old Bridge police arrived at the Englishtown Road residence and posted an alert for Jencsik, who was later seen in Woodbridge driving a Jaguar, authorities said.
Woodbridge police attempted to stop Jencsik, who fled. Police followed him to the Freddie Avenue home in the Ideal Homes trailer park, where members of the Woodbridge Police Department — and later, the Woodbridge Police Department Special Operations Team — surrounded the home and attempted to convince Jencsik to surrender.
Noonan, who owns Greenview Landscaping in Iselin — where he said Jencsik worked for a decade — said he was at the scene with police, talking to Jencsik on his cell phone as officers attempted to get the suspect out of his trailer.
According to Noonan, Jencsik repeatedly asked to see him during the standoff. Also, he said he passed off the phone to police, who tried to coax out Jencsik from the home.
Eventually, officers sprayed teargas in the windows of the trailer, Noonan said.
When Jencsik eventually emerged in the doorway of the house, he was brandishing what appeared to be a gun, and was shot by police, according to authorities.
“He didn’t want to go to jail — that was the whole thing,” Noonan said, adding that he felt that police could have handled the situation differently.
Mayor John McCormac disagreed with Noonan’s appraisal.
“I’m proud of the job the Woodbridge Police Department did to make sure no police officers or innocent people were hurt,” he said. “They did an amazing job.”
Jencsik was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead at about 8:30 p.m., police said.
According to Noonan, Jencsik and Heil had a tumultuous relationship, often breaking up and getting back together. While he acknowledged that Jencsik had “issues,” he insisted that he was not a violent person.
“He had a heart of gold,” Noonan said. “They are making it out to seem like he was a monster, and he wasn’t. He was just a great, great guy and he doesn’t deserve this.”
Jim O’Neill of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a call for comment. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the incident.
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has been notified of the shooting, in accordance with use of force guidelines. An investigation into the details surrounding the stabbings is also continuing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3300.