Vineland Man Indicted on Charges He Killed His Wife, Broke Baby’s Legs

A grand jury in Gloucester County has indicted a man from Vineland on charges that he killed his wife during an argument in December.

Meanwhile, a Cumberland County grand jury has indicted the same man on charges that he broke his child’s legs the month before.

27-year-old John E. Jacobs is charged with murdering 22-year-old Sahlena Blackwell-Jacobs. The woman’s body was found in mid-December in a burning SUV in Monroe Township.

The Gloucester County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Blackwell-Jacobs had been killed by "blunt neck trauma," prosecutors said.

Blackwell-Jacobs was a mother of two children. She was a resident of Sicklerville and worked as an administrative assistant at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona.

A few weeks before the alleged murder, Jacobs was charged with abusing the couple’s newborn daughter. NJ.com reports the child was hospitalized with two fractures to her left leg and another to her right leg. Jacobs admitted to causing the injuries while changing her diaper on November 30th.

Jacobs will be in court on March 6th for an arraignment hearing for the murder charge and March 9th for a hearing on the child abuse charge.

With prior reporting from Townsquare Media's Sergio Bichao.