Denville man is charged with fatal stabbing of ex-wife

Anthony Novellino, 63, was previously sought as a 'person of interest' in the case

DENVILLE — A Denville man stabbed his ex-wife 84 times and placed a Halloween pig mask over her face in an apparent final act of humiliation after a nasty divorce, according to an arrest affidavit filed today.

Judith Novellino, 62, a popular Morris Catholic High School teacher, was in the process of moving out of the Cliffside Trail home she had shared with ex-husband Anthony Novellino, 63, when she was found dead June 19 by her daughter, authorities said.

Her body was found in the bathroom, on her back between the shower tub and toilet, with her shirt lifted up revealing numerous stab wounds to her abdomen, as well as on the palms of her hands, and a Halloween pig mask placed over her face, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Morristown by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

Anthony Novellino then fled, making a cross-country trek to Washington state, where he was hoping to meet up with a woman he had been corresponding with in an online chat room for singles over 50 years old, the affidavit said. That woman had never met Novellino in person, and did not know he was making the impromptu trip.

Anthony Novellino initially was charged out of the Town of Boonton on a terroristic threat charge that had been filed the day after the homicide by Judith Novellino's former divorce attorney.

A warrant for that charge was issued by the Boonton Municipal Court, and Anthony Novellino was found and arrested in Puyallup, Wash., on Thursday.

He waived extradition and was returned to New Jersey and is being held in the Morris County Jail in lieu of $1,750,000 bail pending a hearing.

"For the past 10 days, attorneys and detectives have been working around the clock to investigate this alleged crime,” Bianchi said. "Our collective sympathies are extended to the family and friends of Ms. Novellino who have suffered such a great loss in such a brutal way."

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