FATHER INDICTED IN SON’S MURDER
A Hamilton man who allegedly bludgeoned his young son to death in Ewing last
year was indicted today on murder charges, Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel G.
Giaquinto announced.
Antonio
Petrecca (DOB 12/19/63), of the 500 block of Yardville-Hamilton Square Road, was
also indicted on charges that he possessed a weapon, a brick, for an unlawful
purpose in the Sept. 22, 1999 death of his son, Michael Joseph Petrecca (DOB
11/2/96). He was also indicted on attempted murder and aggravated assault
charges related to his wife and his mother-in-law in an attack that preceded the
fatal assault on the boy. If convicted, Antonio Petrecca could be sentenced to
life in prison, required to spend at least 60 years in jail without parole,
Giaquinto said.
Assistant
Prosecutor Thomas Meidt presented the case to the grand jury.
At
about 3 p.m. on Sept. 22, Ewing police received an emergency call reporting that
there had been an assault inside a home in the 800 block of Parkway Avenue in
Ewing.
It
is alleged that Antonio Petrecca became enraged then assaulted his wife, Diana
Petrecca (DOB 9/28/65), and his mother-in-law, Nancy Panzita (DOB 3/19/42),
inside the Panzita residence, and that he then turned his violence onto his son.
It
appeared that Petrecca used broken pottery pieces to injure both women. Petrecca
then struck his young son over the head several times with a two-inch thick
patio brick.
The
boy’s mother managed to flee the residence and go to a neighbor’s home. The
neighbor called police.