Man Charged In Lakewood Girlfriend's Death Had Prior Domestic Violence Arrest: Police

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A Lakewood man accused of killing his girlfriend in her home in Leisure Village had been arrested and charged with making terroristic threats during a prior incident at the home, Patch has learned.

John Filistovich, 59, was charged Tuesday with murder in the death of Betty Perry, 60, whose body was found Tuesday in her home on Thornbury Court in Leisure Village, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Friday.

Perry died of blunt force injuries to the head, neck and chest, along with asphyxiation, and her death was ruled a homicide by the Ocean County Medical Examiner, Billhimer said.

Filistovich was being held in jail in Maryland, after Maryland State Troopers found him on Tuesday on the side of a road near Salisbury in Perry’s 2015 Hyundai Elantra, the prosecutor said. He has been charged with theft in taking Perry’s car, Billhimer said.

Lakewood police were called about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday and asked to do a welfare check at Perry's home, Billhimer said. When they arrived, they found Perry dead on the floor in the bedroom, he said, and her car missing.

It was not the first time police had been called to the home, however. A Lakewood police report shows Filistovich was arrested on Aug. 31, 2022, after he showed up at the home in violation of a temporary restraining order.

Filistovich was inside the home when police responded, and when police tried to get him to leave, he refused to honor the restraining order, the police report said. An officer was able to see inside the home and saw Filistovich was carrying a weapon, police said. The report did not describe the weapon.

The Lakewood Police Department's hostage negotiator, Lt. Robert Shimonovich, and Shimonovich and the other officers were able to arrest Filistovich, police said.

He was charged with domestic violence criminal mischief, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes and terroristic threats in that 2022 incident, the police report said.

It was unclear Friday when that restraining order ended.

Billhimer did not say what time Filistovich was found in Maryland on Tuesday, and authorities did not say why he needed medical treatment. Filistovich was released from the hospital, near Salissbury, on Thursday and was being held in the Wicomico County Corrections Center in Salisbury, Maryland, awaiting extradition to New Jersey, Billhimer said.

Filistovich will be held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing when he is returned to the state, Billhimer said.

The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and High Tech Crime Unit, Lakewood Township Police Department and its Detective Bureau, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office, Maryland State Police and Salisbury (Maryland) Police Department are investigating.