NJ Cop Indicted In 'Blackout' Killing Of Ex-Wife Found Competent

MORRISTOWN, NJ - A Newark police officer indicted for murdering his estranged wife and attempting to murder her boyfriend on July 14 in what he described as a "blackout" was ruled competent to stand trial, according to authorities.

John Formisano, 49, was in Superior Court in Morristown on Monday for the ruling and pleaded not guilty to the charges once it was made.

Formisano told investigators that he "blacked out" upon realizing the two were inside a bedroom together in the estranged couple's Jefferson Township home. Formisano, a 24-year veteran of the Newark Police Department, said he did remember shooting Christine Solaro Formisano, 37, who was using the name Christine Solaro at the time of her death.

He also remembered shooting her boyfriend, identified as 40-year-old T.S. in documents, but that he was in a "blacked out state," according to the affidavit of probable cause, which Patch obtained.

He denied being under the influence of any medications, or of having any mental conditions that would impair his understanding when he pleaded not guilty to the initial charges at the end of August.

Formisano told investigators that he'd gone over to the couple's 1 Mirror Place home in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township to drop off a pair of glasses for one of the couples' children. When he began to suspect that Solaro had a man in the bedroom he began to "black out," Formisano told police, but that he remembered firing his gun multiple times.

The couples' two children, who are both under 10 years old and were not named in the affidavit, were home at the time of the shooting, the complaint alleges, and were "located nearby" at the time of the slaying.

Formisano is expected back in court on Feb. 10. In the interim officials noted there may be a plea deal offered.

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