A man was convicted this week of stabbing a woman to death in 2020 at a Hunterdon County home, authorities said.
Following a three-week trial, Brandon E. Petersen, 33, of Newton, was found guilty by a jury of murder, unlawful taking of a means of conveyance and weapons-related offenses, according to a statement from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office. He was acquitted of a witness tampering charge.
On Dec. 6, 2020, an injured Michelle Carkhuff, 38, was taken by her friend to a local hospital where she later died, the office said. Detectives from the Delaware Township Police Department said Petersen had fled the Kingwood Stockton Road home prior to officers arriving at 9:13 p.m.
Petersen was charged and arrested the next morning in Pennsylvania, investigators said.
He now faces a mandatory state prison term of at least 30 years when he is sentenced on July 14, the office said.
It will not be the first time Petersen sees the inside of a jail cell as he was previously sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2008 for repeatedly stabbing a neighbor during a robbery that took place in 2005 when he was 15 years old, court records show.
Liz Velez, communications director for the New Jersey Department of Corrections, said Petersen was released from Southern State Correctional Facility on Aug. 21, 2019.
Carkhuff, who was also a resident of Newton, is survived by two daughters. They were 20 and 6 years old at the time of her death.
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
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