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Former Hasbrouck Heights man charged in double stabbing was headed to Great Falls suicide

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A former Hasbrouck Heights man charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and stabbing her and her son several times was headed to the Great Falls in Paterson to kill himself when police intercepted him.

Photo Credit: Courtesy HASBROUCK HEIGHTS PD

Jonathan Bell 41, was driving his 2007 Volkswagen GTI when Hasbrouck Heights and Paterson police pulled him over on Madison Avenue near Rosa Parks Boulevard just after 3:30 p.m. yesterday.

Bell was “headed to the falls to jump,” Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“He didn’t say anything. He didn’t do anything. He just put his hands up” as Hasbrouck Heights and Paterson detectives and patrol officers surrounded him, Hasbrouck Heights Detective Sgt. Michael Colaneri Jr. told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“We had information on several locations,” Colaneri said. “We went to Union City, Jersey City, Passaic and then Paterson. We chased leads all day — and one came through.”

Bell was being held on $250,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one each of illegal weapons possession and burglary with a weapon.

Bell broke into the victim’s Church Street apartment through a window overnight and stabbed the son when he was confronted, Colaneri said.

The young man’s father got his injured son out of the home, then went back inside and found his girlfriend stabbed, the sergeant said.

Bell then fled in a car, he said.

The 40-year-old mother and 20-year-old son were OK after sustaining stab wounds in the arms and head.

Bell has two daughters with the woman, one 2 years old and the other 12. Neither was harmed, Colaneri said.

All involved have criminal histories, records show.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Bell is considered homeless. His most recent address was in Lodi, Colaneri said.

Several witnesses gave statements. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence, while a K9 unit searched in vain for the knife.

 

MUGSHOT: Courtesy HASBROUCK HEIGHTS PD

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