Lincroft Man Charged In Wife's Murder

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Murder suspect Patrick Allen in court on Monday

FREEHOLD — Patrick Allen sat silently, with his head bowed, peering out from behind dark-frame eyeglasses in state Superior Court on Monday as he was charged for the murder of his wife.
Middletown police responded to a 9-1-1 call at 1457 West Front Street last Friday at approximately 11:47 a.m.
“As a result of that call, they found Mrs. Allen deceased,” Monmouth County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Richard Incremona said, referring to the 44-year-old victim, Kimberly Allen, whose husband was taken into custody later that day.
Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. set Allen’s bail at $1.5 million with no 10 percent option for release permitted. Allen was incarcerated at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility, Incremona said.
Middletown police and investigators from the Major Crimes Bureau of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office conducted the investigation, Incremona said.
Appearing before Judge Paul X. Escandon lawyers from the prosecutor’s office and representing the defendant offered some details of the crime.
Marc LeMieux, director of the prosecutor’s office’s Major Crimes Bureau, told Escandon that, “Patrick Allen killed his wife as a result of a financial dispute.”
The family allegedly had financial difficulties that triggered an argument in the home Friday morning. Kimberly Allen, LeMieux said, died as a result of “homicidal violence” and the actual causes, based upon autopsy results were “asphyxia and blunt impact to the head.”
The remainder of the brief hearing concerned Allen’s bail. If he is convicted, LeMieux said, “Mr. Allen is looking at 30 years in jail,” adding that the length of his possible sentence could be enough to warrant considering Allen as a potential flight risk should bail be reduced.
John Charles Allen, New Brunswick, the defendant’s cousin and attorney, said bail is traditionally set at between $250,000 and $1 million in similar cases. “I think that is unjust,” the lawyer said of Allen’s current bail.
“My client has no criminal record,” attorney Allen told Escandon.
John Charles Allen acknowledged to the judge that there had been an argument and his client had left and, “then came back and called the police.”
As another point in his argument, Allen told the judge, “The longer my client is incarcerated and unable to earn living the greater the risk that that home would be lost.” And, “Nothing has been submitted other than the comments of the prosecutor,” Allen argued.
Escandon ruled that bail would remain as set, but should Allen make bail he was ordered to remain away from the family home and to surrender his passport.
Patrick Allen, wearing a correctional institution jumpsuit and wrist shackles, was silently escorted out of the courtroom.
Allen has the right to appeal the amount of bail. For investigators, the next step will be to prepare an indictment for presentation to a grand jury, LeMieux said following the hearing.
The Allens had been married for 20 years and are the parents of two sons. Kimberly Allen had been working for the last six months at Country Curtains, Shrewsbury, and had been active with the Lincroft Elementary School PTA, serving as its president from 2008-2010. Her funeral was scheduled for Saturday in Pennsylvania, where her parents reside, according to her obituary.