By Tori Richards
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| Map of New Jersey with Emerson locator |
EMERSON, NJ (Crime Library) — More than 100 search and rescue personnel spent a dozen hours combing a woodsy reservoir area Tuesday looking in vain for the remains of Liza Murphy, a mother who disappeared from her home more than a week ago with just the clothes on her back.
If you believe her husband, Joseph Murphy, he'll say that she walked out of their Emerson home on Aug. 19 after the pair had an argument because he threatened to divorce her over an affair that she was having. But one of Liza's long time friends said she'd never leave her three children without as much as a phone call.
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| Liza Murphy |
But that's not the strangest part. Murphy never reported his wife missing. Instead, police were notified by an anonymous caller a day later and began questioning friends and relatives. Then, on Aug. 24 when police searched their home and two vehicles, Murphy stepped in front of ongoing traffic in a bid to commit suicide, police said.
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| Emerson N.J. Police Logo |
According to Emerson police Chief Michael Saudino, Murphy walked in front of two different cars that avoided hitting him before he was struck by a vehicle driven by a firefighter. Murphy remains hospitalized in serious condition with a broken pelvis and internal injuries. His three children, aged 7, 11, and 13, are being cared for by relatives.
"This man was under tremendous pressure — he works seven days a week and then finds out over a week ago that his wife had been cheating on him," Murphy's attorney, Joseph Rem, told CNN's Nancy Grace. "He was put under a national microscope. He has been convicted in the court of public opinion."
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