Seaside Heights, NJ, Man Sentenced to 35 Years for Fatally Stabbing Woman at Motel

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says a man from Seaside Heights has been sentenced to 35 years in state prison for fatally stabbing a woman at a motel last year.

51-year-old Gerardo Ruiz was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter in connection to the death of 29-year-old Alecia Perreault, also of Seaside Heights.

According to authorities, on the morning of May 1, 2021, Seaside Heights Police received a call from a person claiming to have knowledge that Ruiz killed a woman at the Offshore Motel in Seaside Heights.

Officers responded to a room at that motel and found the body of Perreault, "with apparent wounds to her neck."

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She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities then responded to Ruiz's room at a different motel in the borough and discovered that he had experienced an apparent drug overdose. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, and Seaside Heights Police Department Detective Bureau, determined that Ruiz was the individual responsible for Ms. Perreault’s death.

Ruiz's sentence will be subject to the No Early Release Act, which means he must serve at least 85 percent of his term, or almost 30 years, before becoming eligible for parole.