Roberto Ortiz is held on $1 million bail. It's not clear whether he has hired a lawyer.
The Essex County Homicide Task force says 37-year-old Silvia Paucar's teenage son and her brother found her unresponsive in her vehicle on Stone Street after she failed to return home following classes Wednesday night. Paucar was pronounced dead at University Hospital.
"She was the best," said Emelio Sanchez, the victim's husband.
Emelio Sanchez came home Thursday night to a house full of family members grieving for his murdered wife.
"I want to go upstairs and see my daughter," Sanchez said.
He says the killer called his 12-year-old daughter.
"He was calling my daughter too. He was saying you know where your mom is? She's dead," Sanchez said.
That call was one of several that the suspect allegedly made Thursday taunting the family.
In the hours after, Silvia Sanchez was found murdered.
"She was missing for an hour," Sanchez said.
When she didn't come home on Wednesday night, her 17-year-old son and his uncle went out to look for her.
"I spotted the car, and that's when I found my mom inside the car. The seat belt around her neck," said Kevin Castillo, the victim's son.
With the victim's cell phone in hand, Ortiz allegedly made calls to the victim's family.
"(He was taunting you today?) Yes, the last call I received from that guy was 4 a.m. this morning. (What did he say?) 'Did you find your wife? Did you find your mom?'" Sanchez said.
A family's grief has been compounded by a suspect's twisted act of revenge.
"The guy was texting my wife, 'I want to be with you. Leave your husband you can be better with me,'" Sanchez said.
