Victim of machete attack dies; friend charged with murder

WALL, NJ — A woman who was attacked with a machete in the parking lot of a Wall Township apartment complex has died, and the man arrested in the attack is now facing murder charges, authorities said.

The charge against Alex J. Williams, 24, was upgraded from attempted murder after the woman died May 30, the Monmouth County District Attorney’s Office said Sunday.

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He is accused of attacking his girlfriend with a machete in the parking lot of the Glen Oaks complex on Route 138, authorities said. Their child was nearby at the time, they said.

Wall police were called there around 9:20 a.m. on May 23 and found the woman with significant injuries. She was taken to a hospital but died of her injuries on Thursday, May 30, authorities said.

Williams, who was arrested without incident, is also charged with second-degree child endangerment and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (related to the machete), prosecutors said.

They did not provide any information about the child’s age or how close he or she was to the attack when it occurred.

He is being held in the Monmouth County Jail awaiting a detention hearing tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, June 7, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English, prosecutors said.