MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A Middletown woman accused of killing her bed-ridden husband, who had suffered a series of strokes, pled guilty Monday to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter.
Police say Michele Linzalone, 77, shot her husband, Rocky V. Linzalone in the head because she was burned out as his caretaker.
This happened in December 2021, when he was 73 and her husband was 74; her husband was unable to walk and was confined to a bed; she was his sole caretaker.
She was initially charged with first-degree murder.
Linzalone, who appeared in court photographs Monday in a wheelchair, will be sentenced March 26. At that time, the Monmouth County Prosecutor will ask that she be sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
She is currently being held in a secure medical facility for an unknown medical condition, which has not been disclosed by the county prosecutor. She will remain there until her sentencing.
Linzalone shot her husband at about 10 a.m. Dec. 13, 2021 in the second-floor bedroom of their large suburban home on Borden Road in Middletown. She shot her husband in the back of the head. He was pronounced dead when police and EMTs got there.
It was Linzalone who called 911. She told police she shot her husband and has always maintained it was an accident: She told police she was "playing" with the gun, that she did not think it was loaded and that she aimed the gun at her husband's head and accidentally shot him.
However, this Middletown Police affidavit revealed Linzalone had searched on her iPhone, at 9:51 a.m. that day, just minutes before the shooting, "If you shoot someone in the head will they die instantly."
She had also searched on her phone: "What does it feel like to get shot in the head" and "Do you die instantly from a gunshot to the head? Do you feel any pain at all?"
A further search of her iPhone search history showed that on Nov. 18, 2021, Linzalone made several searches about firearms ammunition. One of those searches included, "Are hollow-points more powerful."
Rocky Linzalone, a U.S. military veteran, had suffered several strokes in recent years and Linzalone was stressed and burned out as his sole caretaker, the prosecutor previously said. Also, some family members told Middletown Police detectives that the stress and immense workload of caring for her husband appeared to take a toll on Linzalone, and she became resentful towards her husband.
Linzalone also told Middletown Police she waited approximately twenty to thirty minutes to contact 911 after the shooting "because she was in shock and she wanted to get dressed and brush her teeth."
Linzalone previously worked at St. Leo the Great Catholic church in Middletown.
Prior coverage of the Michele Linzalone case: Middletown Woman Charged With Murder In Shooting Death Of Husband
Middletown Woman Indicted In Shooting Death Of Husband
Phone History Reveals New Details In Middletown Fatal Shooting
Middletown Woman Accused Of Killing Husband Denied Bail
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