Man gets 35 years for strangling ex-girlfriend to death at NJ apartments

🔴 A Millville man has been sentenced to 35 years for murdering his ex-girlfriend.

🔴 Prosecutors say the victim had just ended their relationship.

🔴 Investigators found a note from the killer.

MILLVILLE — A South Jersey man will spend most of his adult life in prison after being sentenced for the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

On Monday, a Superior Court judge in Cumberland County sentenced 26-year-old Steven Gonzalez to 35 years in state prison.

Gonzalez will be in his mid-50s before he is even eligible for parole, according to the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office.

Guilty plea entered in domestic violence homicide

In late September, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors dropped an aggravated assault charge as part of the plea.

According to prosecutors, Gonzalez admitted to killing his girlfriend at their Millville apartment on July 3, 2023.

Officials have only identified the 25-year-old victim as "T.C." because she is a victim of domestic violence.

T.C. broke up with Gonzalez before she was killed, prosecutors said. He snapped and strangled her to death at the Riverview Condominiums.

Note left at crime scene before suspect fled

Investigators said they found a note at the scene. Gonzalez had left the note explaining that he killed her due to the breakup.

However, he wasn't there when the Millville police arrived. Gonzalez was found later that day at a family member's home in Vineland.

Domestic violence and strangulation in New Jersey

An individual accused of choking their partner is seven times more likely to kill someone later, according to the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence.

And in more than 40% of domestic violence homicides, the victim survived a strangulation in the year leading up to their death.

In 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law to make non-fatal strangulation assault a second-degree crime that carries up to 10 years in state prison.

It was in response to the strangulation murder of Yasemin Uyar, a 24-year-old mother who was killed by the father of their toddler. Tyler Rios was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Then again, in 2024, Murphy signed new laws to bolster rights for survivors of domestic abuse.

An act of domestic violence occurs every 7 to 8 seconds in New Jersey, according to Safe Way Out.

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