Man faces assault charge
in death of girlfriend
Third domestic

violence fatality in two years in So. Brunswick

By charlie kim

Staff Writer

For the third time in two years, a domestic violence incident in South Brunswick has ended in death, police said.

Police charged John Mitchell, 45, of 63 Major Road with aggravated assault in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Chrisanne Ciandella, 41, during the early morning hours of Aug. 11.

The woman, who lived with Mitchell, was found unconscious alongside Major Road shortly after midnight on Aug. 11. Police who responded were unable to determine how she was injured.

Ciandella was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and placed on life support.

An investigation has revealed that Ciandella lived with Mitchell and that an altercation had occurred that evening, during which Mitchell struck Ciandella above the right eye, police said.

Police believe Ciandella received her injury prior to leaving the house and that she eventually collapsed while walking down Major Road.

Mitchell was charged with aggravated assault at 2 a.m. that morning and was transported to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Ciandella never regained consciousness and remained on life support until she died during the afternoon of Aug. 12, police said.

An autopsy was conducted on Aug. 13 and the death was ruled a homicide by Middlesex County Medical Examiner Dr. Geetha Natarajan. Natarajan listed the cause of death as blunt trauma to the head complicated by alcoholic liver disease.

South Brunswick Detective Chris Giampietro and members of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office homicide unit are investigating.

The slaying is the third in two years that came as a result of domestic violence, police said.

Earlier this year, Michael Janicki, 19, was found innocent by reason of insanity in connection with the stabbing death of his father, Ortwin, with an ornamental sword in the family’s Dayton home.

Janicki’s father was killed as he slept in the master bedroom last summer.

In March 2002, Saoule Moukhametova was stabbed with a butcher knife in her Kingston home. Her estranged husband, Boris Boretsky, was charged with her murder.

According to police, Moukhametova had already pursued a case against Boretsky for violating a restraining order prior to the murder.

Prosecutors have said that they will likely seek the death penalty in that killing.

Although not a township resident, the body of Refugia Ruiz was found in the woods off Miller Road last summer.

Police charged her husband, Ismael Serrano of New Brunswick, in connection with her death.

Police have said they believe Serrano

killed Ruiz in their New Brunswick apartment and then transported the body to South Brunswick.

Two other township women lost their lives in domestic violence incidents in 1990 and 1993.

In December 1990, Paula May was reported kidnapped from Route 27 and Kingston Terrace. Her body was later found in Metuchen and her ex-boyfriend, Craig Armstead, was charged with the murder, according to police.

In October 1993, Elisa Balestrieri was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend Patrick Eppinger, who killed himself at the scene in Fairfield.