Husband sentenced for wife's murder

HOLMDEL — George Calleia, 46, of Holmdel, was sentenced on Aug. 8 to a 50-year state prison term for the murder of his wife, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Calleia must serve 85 percent of the sentence, or approximately 42.5 years, before he becomes eligible for release on parole, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office.

Calleia was also sentenced to a concurrent five-year custodial term for the third-degree crime of hindering apprehension and a concurrent 18-month custodial term for the fourth-degree crime of tampering with evidence.

The sentence follows a month-long jury trial that ended with a guilty verdict on May 23. The trial was presided over by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet, who also imposed the sentence.

Calleia had been free on $3 million bail during the trial.

After the jury returned a guilty verdict on the first-degree murder charge, Chaiet revoked Calleia's bail and ordered that he be held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, without bail.

The charges stemmed from the Oct. 20, 2005, death of Calleia's wife, Susan Calleia, 43, which occurred at the couple's residence on Tranquility Court in Holmdel.

Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Calleia reported his wife missing to the Holmdel Police Department on the morning of Oct. 21, 2005. Holmdel police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office investigated the missing persons report.

On Oct. 22, 2005, police discovered Susan Calleia's body in the back of her 2003 Lexus sport utility vehicle in a remote parking lot at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Her partially clothed body had been carefully positioned in the rear of the vehicle underneath exercise mats, with the rear cover pulled closed. A subsequent autopsy conducted by the Monmouth County Medical Examiner's Office revealed that she died as a result of strangulation and multiple blunt force trauma, according to the press release.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that Susan Calleia had been planning to divorce Calleia, and that Calleia was angry over the probable financial implications of the divorce, according to the prosecutor's office.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin stated, "While no prison term can adequately address the wrong done by an act of murder, this sentence severely and properly punishes Calleia for his vicious conduct and the crime he perpetrated upon Susan Calleia, the effect of which left her dead and the couple's now-10-year-old daughter effectively parentless."

Valentin also stated, "We hope the conviction and sentence of the defendant will provide some comfort for Susan Calleia's grieving family and caring friends, so many of whom attended the trial on a daily basis."

The case was prosecuted by ExecutiveAssistant Prosecutor Richard E. Incremona.