Police searching for killer of Newark woman, found dead along with family dog

NEWARK, N.J. -- A grieving daughter is looking for the man accused of killing her mother.

It's a man she never expected would turn her life upside down.

Family members say Olga Dejesus was head over heels in love and engaged to be married to Lamont Stephenson. She was the happiest they can remember.

But Essex County prosecutors and Newark police say the man she planned to grow old with took her life.

"Everything I do reminds me of her. I couldn't look myself in the mirror, but I would just see her," said Cassandra Dejesus, the victim's daughter. "I feel like that wasn't supposed to happen, at least not that way."

Dejesus' daughter knew something was wrong last October when she didn't hear from her mother, so she went to check on the 39-year-old at their home at the Stephen Crane Village Houses in Newark. She found the family dog dead just inside the door.

"My best friend said, 'Cass why don't you just go upstairs?' And I told her, 'I don't want to go upstairs, because if I go upstairs I'm going to see something I'm not going to like,'" Cassandra Dejesus said.

"I see her in the bed, she was almost turning blue. So we call for emergency responders. This was not supposed to happen not like this, no signs, no clues of anything," said Alexander Dejesus, the victim's cousin.

Stephenson hasn't been seen since. Detectives spotted him on surveillance cameras at Newark Penn Station shortly after the murder.

They believe he went to Norfolk, Virginia or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Family members say the couple reunited after their 20-year high school reunion. They never saw any signs of problems.

"Everything looked normal. He fooled us and he changed our life forever," said Felix Dejesus, the victim's brother.

"I just want to know why, just why?" Cassandra Dejesus said.

"Do the right thing. You got family; a lot of people are suffering over this. Turn yourself in," said Marco Dejesus, the victim's brother.