The Associated Press
FORT LEE, N.J. — A U.S. man angry that his girlfriend was trying to break up with him struck her with his car and repeatedly backed over her body, prosecutors said Tuesday in charging him with murder.
South Korean-born Charles Ann had been dating 25-year-old Aena Hong for about a year, and the pair had a tumultuous relationship, Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said.
Witnesses told police they saw a woman on foot arguing with the driver of a 2011 Hyundai Sonata on Monday evening. The car drove away from the woman, turned around, rapidly accelerated and struck her as she was crossing an intersection, witnesses said. The driver put the car in reverse and ran over the woman’s body three times, investigators said.
Hong was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police found the car, registered to Ann, a few hours later.
The 26-year-old Ann was arrested Tuesday morning at a friend’s apartment in New York.
Ann came to the U.S. in 2009 and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, authorities said. He was carrying a large amount of cash and his passport when he was arrested, leading investigators to believe that he might have been preparing to flee the country, Molinelli said.
Ann is being held on $3 million. It wasn’t clear if he has a lawyer.