Associated Press
MILLBURN, N.J. — The reward has been quadrupled for anyone who leads authorities to the suspect in the New Jersey home invasion that left a mother beaten, an attack that was captured by a nanny camera.
Public groups and private individuals are offering $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of the man who was seen punching and kicking the Millburn woman and throwing her down stairs while her 3-year-old daughter cowered on the couch last Friday.
Essex County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Kevin Lynch tells The Star-Ledger of Newark the donors were outraged by the attack.
Police say the woman suffered a concussion, bruises, chipped teeth and cuts around her mouth.
It’s believed she was knocked unconscious when tossed down the stairs, then awoke and called police. She was treated at a hospital and was released.
The nanny cam footage shows the woman sitting next to her child in front of the TV, then getting up to check out a noise out of the frame. It then shows her backing up and being attacked by a man who rushes her.
The burglar made three trips upstairs to rifle through the family’s belongings, police said, assaulting the woman on the trips back to the first floor, kicking her, punching her and yanking her by the hair.
“It really takes a sick person to be able to do that,” Palardy said.
The woman screams at the beginning of the assaults, which took place over several minutes, but then is quiet as her 3-year-old remains glued to the couch.
“I knew that if I started screaming, my daughter would, too, and I was afraid she would get hurt,” the woman told News 12 New Jersey. “I took it. I didn’t cry the entire time.”
Police said the attacker made off with jewelry, which News 12 said included the woman’s wedding ring. Neither the 3-year-old girl nor a 1-year-old boy upstairs was injured.
The police captain said he hoped the girl would not be permanently scarred by what she witnessed.
“She’s a little girl, just 3 years old,” he said. “Hopefully she can forget this.”
Copyright 2013 Associated Press