Horrific killing of woman took place at former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli’s horse farm in Hunterdon

The scene of the gruesome murder in Hunterdon County was a horse farm owned by former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, who was in Florida at the time of the attack.

“It’s horrific,” Torricelli told NJ Advance Media. “It’s an incredible tragedy. My head is still spinning,” he said about the death Sunday of Michele Carkhuff.

The farm has six buildings, including a main house and a smaller structure with apartments for a housekeeper and a farmhand who cares for the animals on the property. Carkhuff, a mother of two, had been visiting his housekeeper and arrived with Brandon Petersen, 31, who has been charged with her death.

According to Torricelli, an argument led to the deadly altercation and she tried to escape in his pickup truck parked on the property. He said Petersen slit Carkhuff’s throat. She was 38-years-old.

Petersen, a resident of Newton, has been charged with first-degree murder.

A warrant issued by the Stockton Municipal Court and released by New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts late Thursday said that Carkhuff was stabbed in the neck by a knife. In an accompanying affidavit, a witness told detectives that victim and Petersen had “consumed drugs and that they were in the kitchen preparing a stew to cook, which included them cutting vegetables with a kitchen knife. The unnamed witness reported that “Petersen suddenly took a large knife and stabbed victim in the side of the neck.” There were also cuts to her hand.

A search by investigators “revealed brownish red stains throughout the kitchen and bathroom, and a kitchen knife amidst the stains,” according to the court documents.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office, who released the name of the victim late Wednesday morning, has not revealed further details about the incident — including how she was killed or her relationship to Petersen.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/12/horrific-murder-of-woman-took-place-at-former-us-senator-torricellis-horse-farm-in-hunterdon.html

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Investigators said Petersen was apprehended in Upper Black Eddy in Pennsylvania and remains incarcerated in Bucks County pending extradition. According to the court filing, he was arrested after police received a phone call from a girlfriend of Petersen, who asked her to pick him up from a location later traced back to Swamps Riverside Garage on River Road in Upper Black Eddy. The Pennsylvania State Police were notified and ultimately took Peterson into custody.

In addition to murder, he was also charged with third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree unlawful taking by means of conveyance, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Delaware Township police said they first received an emergency call at approximately 9:13 p.m. on Sunday, according to the prosecutor’s office. Authorities said friends of the victim took her to a local hospital in Mercer County prior to their arrival, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Brandon Petersen, who has been charged with murder.

Petersen has a record. He was 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. Those records indicate he stabbed a 57-year-old woman numerous times on her head, cheek, forehead and wrists outside her home because he wanted to rob her of about $200 to repay a drug dealer.

He was released from Southern State Correctional Facility in August 2019, state corrections officials said.

Torricelli represented New Jersey in the U.S. House and Senate for two decades. The 69-year-old Democrat dropped out of his re-election campaign in 2002 over ethics charges. He has worked as a real estate developer over the last decade.

The farm has been his refuge for the past 17 years; a place he has shared with horses, donkeys, chickens and a rescue dog. The property includes equine facilities, a pond, two caretaker apartments, a guest cottage, a pool and a cinema room that adjoins a “party barn.” He said only two staff people were working on site on Sunday, including the housekeeper, when the incident occurred.

“I’m assuming given the behavior of the assailant that there were drugs involved,” said Torricelli.

He learned that a fight began over dinner. Part of the altercation outside the apartment was caught on video surveillance cameras. “I could see my truck being driven down the driveway,” he said.

The GMC Sierra pickup was later found abandoned in Kingwood Township, a few miles from the scene of the crime, according to police. Torricelli said he learned about what happened after his property manager texted him and told him the police had been called.

He said he had met Carkhuff in the past, but did not know her well.

What he knows is that living on the farm will never be the same.

“It’s an incredibly bucolic setting, but this level of violence,” Torricelli said, his voice trailing off.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/12/horrific-murder-of-woman-took-place-at-former-us-senator-torricellis-horse-farm-in-hunterdon.html

Call to Digg on former Senator Robert Torricelli

Everything about this story sounds fishy. Robert Torricelli was implicated in a corruption scandal involving China and North Korea, was a huge fundraiser and recruiter for Democrat Senate candidates, is good pals with the Clinton's, and owns two businesses, Rosemont Associates and the Rosemont Foundation.

Robert Torricelli Wikipedia

He is notable for his tenure as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In September 2002, Torricelli ended his Senate re-election campaign after having been formally admonished by the U.S. Senate in connection with a campaign finance scandal. He later founded Rosemont Associates, a consulting group.

In 2000, he headed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which regained the Democratic majority in the Senate. Torricelli was responsible for recruiting Senate candidates including Hillary Clinton.

Torricelli founded business and government affairs consulting firm Rosemont Associates. He is a partner in real estate firm Woodrose Properties, which is invested in over 50 multi family or commercial properties in 10 states. Torricelli has represented the Iranian opposition group, the MEK.

Torricelli was married to Susan Holloway and has dated Bianca Jagger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Torricelli

>>12004116

I thought the same thing. Other reports on this story say it was "unclear" whether Torricelli was at home or not. Something is rotten in Denmark.

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David Chang, Who Accused Former NJ Senator of Corruption, Dies of Liver Failure

David Chang, a one-time millionaire, went to federal prison for illegally bundling campaign contributions to the New Jersey senator and for charges of obstruction of justice

September 25, 2012 at 8:27 pm

A convicted fundraiser who accused New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli (D) of corruption died earlier this year of liver failure, NBC 4 New York has learned.

David Chang died at his New Jersey home in Febraury.

“David was a very kind man who paid a very heavy price for his involvement with political figures,” Chang's former lawyer Brad Simon said.

Chang, a one-time millionaire, went to federal prison for illegally bundling campaign contributions to the New Jersey senator and for charges of obstruction of justice. Seeking a reduced prison sentence, Chang agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

“My mistake was I met Robert Torricelli. I do not consider him a Senator. I consider him a master criminal,” Chang said in a NBC 4 New York interview broadcast in 2002. Days after that interview aired, Torricelli dropped out of his re-election bid. Torricelli was trailing badly in the polls against Republican challenger Doug Forrester.

Retired Senator Frank Lautenberg (D) took Torricelli’s place on the ballot and eventually won the election.

Chang was a businessman who claimed he had sought Torricelli’s help in seeking repayment of millions owed to him by the North Korean government. Chang had shipped millions of dollars of wheat to that country but claimed he was never paid in full.

Chang told prosecutors he personally delivered cash payoffs to Torricelli at his then-home in Englewood as well as expensive gifts, including a big screen tv, suits, ties, watches and art statues. In exchange, Chang alleged the senator agreed to use his office to help pressure North Korea to repay the debt.

Torricelli denied any wrongdoing, was never charged with any crime and called Chang a liar. Federal prosecutors labelled Chang’s cooperation “extraordinary” but did not move forward with the case in part because they said Chang, a convicted felon, would make a weak witness on the stand.

Torricelli was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee in 2002.

The Torricelli-Chang affair made national headlines as the campaign finance investigation hit its crescendo amid the New Jersey election battle where control of the US Senate had weighed in the balance.

Torricelli did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/david-chang-robert-torricelli-new-jersey-senator-fundraiser/1960904/

>>12004256

Wonder if he was wearing a red scarf when he died of "Liver failure"…