Waldwick Murder: Man Accused Of Killing Ex-Girlfriend In Front Of Their Infant Child
From the archive: published Oct 25, 2013, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
A Waldwick murder suspect who police say killed the 23-year-old mother of his infant child has pleaded not guilty.
Mark Spatucci, 22, is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend while their 10-month-old baby was in the room. Police believe Spatucci broke into the Waldwick home of Mary Greff, a former Miss New Jersey Teen USA contestant who he had dated a few months before.
Greff and Spatucci started dating in 2011, and in February she gave birth to their child. The two had lived together initially, but eventually broke up and Greff went back to live with her parents.
Police said that Spatucci drove to the home of Greff’s parents on Tuesday and climbed through a second-story window. Once inside he confronted Mary Greff, eventually attacking her, police say.
Police believe that Greff was strangled to death, but are awaiting the results of an autopsy. Greff’s parents were in the home at the time, but did not hear the argument. Her father found her body the next morning, near the crib where her baby slept.
“At this time it is believed the baby and Greff’s parents were sleeping,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement.
Greff is a graduate of Lyndon State University in Vermont, where she majored in special education. She recently took a job as a hostess at The Tilted Kilt Pub near her home.
Greff had full custody of the infant child with Spatucci, while he had visitation rights.
Mark Spatucci is being held in jail on $2 million bond. The Waldwick murder suspect made his first court appearance on Friday, pleading not guilty.
