MOURNING FRIENDS RECALL YOUNG BIKER’S LOVE OF LIFE; Train Killed Bergenfield Boy in `Freak Accident’

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 5, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A01

At a most difficult hour in his grief Saturday, Bob Gruber embraced a tearful Mike Vitacco, his son’s best friend, consoling him, as he did some 100 boys and girls who had come to bid their friend goodbye.

His wife, Patricia, was at his side, and they were seeing their son for the first time since he was killed in an accident Thursday night.

Patricia Gruber, adjusting one boy’s jacket, exhorted him to “remember Bobby as he was.”

She said she was saddened at seeing her son’s body Saturday and that the family agonized over whether the casket should be open whether the children should see him like that. The youngsters, between 11 and 15 years old, from the Roy W. Brown Middle School in Bergenfield, cried inconsolably.

“I will miss all his friends that he grew up with,” the 44-year-old Bergenfield woman said. “He lived life, every minute, to the fullest. He was looking forward to the summer, to the nice weather, because he was born in June.”

Robert R. Gruber, 13, was killed Thursday in what his father called “a freak accident.” The eighth-grader was struck and killed by an NJ Transit commuter train in East Rutherford as he returned from training for a dirt-bike race.

Saturday and Sunday were for his friends, Mrs. Gruber said. The first wave of about 25 Bergenfield middle school students arrived and filled up the room at the Riewerts Memorial Home. Michael Restrepo, 11, Jerit Sciorra, 13, Anthony Christiano, 12, Michael Lopez, 11, and Danielle Wilson, 13, were there. Toula Psathas, 11, remembered sitting a table away from Bobby at lunch one day and how kind and friendly he was. They became friends.

Jen Heffernan, 15, met Bobby Gruber through a friend and hung out, listening to music, with him.

“I will miss being with him,” she said. “He was caring. If you had a problem, he would talk to you, anytime. He was fun to be with.”

Mike Vitacco said his best friend since first grade had a puckish sense of humor and loved to make people laugh. They called him Urkel after a character on a television sitcom because he wore funny, colorful clothes. Bobby Gruber would do anything for anyone, especially girls.

He loved girls.

So his parents, who had grown accustomed to hearing adults and children alike tell them what a joy it was to be around their son, consoled and were consoled by his friends, their parents, and teachers from the school on Saturday. The children had gone to the Grubers home the night before. They had sat in Bobby’s room, talked with his parents, and talked about what he meant to them. Each one left with a photograph of their friend.

A smile played across Patricia Gruber’s face as she recalled how her son first became enamored of dirt bikes and motocross racing. He watched motocross racing on television as a young boy.

“When he was 7, he said, `Mom, when can I get one? I said maybe when he turned 12. He never forgot I said that,” and asked again as soon as he turned 12, Mrs. Gruber said.

The family lives on a dead-end with a field and woods in the back. They found out that Bobby, who switched from football to basketball about a year ago, had been borrowing a dirt bike and riding it in the field in back of the house, without all the proper equipment. His mother and father decided to buy him the bike and all the right gear. Under the watchful eyes of his father, he trained, which was the way his mother wanted it.

Bobby took part in his first competitive race a week ago, and was to have competed Saturday in a motocross race in Walden, N.Y. He usually trained in Jersey City with a group from Bergenfield. But on the day he died, the group’s plans changed and they went instead to the meadowlands in East Rutherford.

They parked in the street, walked about a half-mile into the meadow, then rode alongside the raised railroad tracks. About 6 p.m., Gruber told his son it was windy and cold, that he would head back to the trucks, that the others could join him later.

He was a good distance ahead when Bobby came up, wanting to take his father to the trucks.

“Dad, let me ride you on my bike, let me take you partway,” he told his father.

“I never let him ride me on his bike. It’s a small bike and it’s a race bike. It wasn’t good for the bike,” Gruber said. He told his son to go back and join the others, that he would see him later.

Bobby, following two other bikes, would pass his father twice as he rode around practicing.
“He was doing great moves, happy as a lark,” his father said.

Gruber would not see his son alive again. The next time he saw him was in a casket at the Bergenfield funeral home.

Most of the ride alongside the railroad track was dirt, wobbly but safe, he said but at one point, to cross over a culvert on railroad property between the Hackensack River bridge and the Route 3 overpass, he would have to ride close to the tracks. The train, returning to the Hoboken station carrying no passengers, apparently sideswiped the boy.

“It was an extreme coincidence to be in that corner at that time,” Gruber said. “He ended being on top of the culvert at the time, such a brief instant that he was exposed to danger and it happened.”

When asked what they would miss most about Bobby Gruber, one of his friends said they would miss “just being with him.”

Visiting continues today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be Monday at 10 a.m. at the Teaneck United Methodist Church, with burial in George Washington Memorial Park.

Caption: PHOTO – Bobby Gruber posing proudly with his dirt bike in a family photograph.

Notes: Bergen page only

DRIVER USES GUN TO VENT FRUSTRATION

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 19, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B08

A 19-year-old Englewood man fired several shots in the air, apparently in frustration that the car he was riding in was hemmed into a spot at a parking lot behind The Rink in Bergenfield on Wednesday, police said.

Werner Lewis of East Terrace Circle, being held on $10,000 bail at the Bergen County Jail Annex, was charged with firing the handgun as patrons left the rink about 1:17 a.m. Wednesday, Deputy Police Chief George Grube said.

Two men in the car with Lewis, Miguel Brown of 304 West Palisade Ave., and Marlon Anderson of 217 Wilber St., both 18 and from Englewood, were charged with illegal possession of the same handgun and were being held on $5,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, Grube said.

About 20 off-duty police officers were working as security guards at The Rink that night, one of the busiest nights there, Grube said. They found a .32-caliber handgun, three spent shells, and nine live rounds in the car, he added.

“Apparently, he didn’t try to hit anybody,” Grube said of Lewis.

The deputy chief said it was the third shooting in Bergenfield during the past nine days. A man fired two shots Sunday into the bulletproof window at the South Washington Street Amoco gas station during a robbery, Grube said. The attendant was uninjured, although the man escaped with $58.

A 27-year-old Englewood Cliffs man was freed on $20,000 bail Dec. 8, after being charged with firing a gun at a crowd outside a Bergenfield Tavern. No one was hit.

Grube said Wednesday’s shooting at The Rink was the second one there this year. A man fired a shot into a crowd in January but did not strike anyone, he said.

RISE IN WEAPONS USE ALARMS BERGENFIELD

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 8, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page C01

Police and town officials in Bergenfield are concerned about a spate of recent incidents involving groups of teenagers and young adults armed with weapons such as a rifle, knives, baseball bats, and lead pipes.

In the third such incident in recent days, six teenagers from Hackensack who were armed with a baseball bat and lead pipes were arrested early Thursday as they searched for a youth with whom they had fought, police said.

On Monday, police arrested four men and eight juveniles from Englewood who were armed with a .22-caliber rifle, knives, and baseball bats as they drove into Bergenfield to retaliate against borough youths for a fight the previous Monday.

And in the most serious incident, a 20-year-old borough man was hospitalized last Friday after he was beaten and stabbed twice, Police Capt. George Grube said. Six of the eight young people arrested were from Bergenfield.

The incidents appear to be symptoms of a nascent rivalry between Bergenfield youths and some from out of town, similar to the long-standing rivalry among Hackensack, Teaneck, and Englewood youths that often flares into violence, Grube said.

“It’s amazing that we haven’t had any innocent people get hurt,” he said. “But how long can you go on if things continue like this? We’ve been having this problem for about a year and a half. It’s just that it’s escalated now. There’s more weapons. We are finding groups of kids coming from out of town armed.”

Councilman Vernon Cox said: “It’s obvious this is going to have to be something that is not just a Bergenfield solution, but a regional solution. We are going to have to look for cooperation from our adjoining communities that the other kids with the weapons are coming from.”

Anna L. Ramirez, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a council seat in Tuesday’s election, said that she had not heard of the recent arrests and that a better effort should be made to inform residents of what is happening.

“I don’t think enough of it is being told to residents of Bergenfield for them to want to do anything about it,” she said.

Ramirez said she hopes the new administration coming into office will have a better plan on how to keep youths out of trouble.

Grube said his main concern is for the safety of Bergenfield residents, and he promised that troublemakers coming into Bergenfield would find police waiting for them.

“We have to send a message out that if they are going to come in here with bats and knives and guns that we are going to take steps to put them away,” he said. “We are dealing with individuals that I believe understand only one thing, and that is enforcement. That is what we are going to do.”

EIGHT FACE CHARGES IN ASSAULT ON MAN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 7, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B03

Seven men and a woman were charged Wednesday with aggravated assault in connection with a beating and stabbing last week that sent a 20-year-old borough man to a hospital, police said.

The victim, whose name is being withheld because police fear further attacks on him, was stabbed in his lower back and in his side, had two front teeth kicked out, and was beaten about his left eye, which was swollen shut, Police Capt. George Grube said.

He underwent surgery after the attack and was in good condition Wednesday, a spokeswoman at the hospital said.

Grube said witnesses told police a dispute over a woman at a party in Bergenfield sparked the attack, which occurred about 11:40 p.m. Friday outside an apartment building on Georgian Court.

A crowd of about 100 people, whom Teaneck and Bergenfield police later dispersed, was outside during the attack.

“Everybody jumped in like it was a picnic on this guy,” kicking him, punching him, and beating him with a baseball bat, Grube said. “They are lucky he didn’t die.”

Police talked to the victim for the first time Tuesday, then arrested most of the suspects later in the day. Tyrone Mack, 21, of 50 Georgian Court, the man whom police accuse of stabbing the victim, was arrested about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. He was being held in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Arrested Tuesday on aggravated assault and weapons charges were Mauricio Zapata, 18, of 17G Georgian Court, and Claudia Jimenez, 19, of 129 Thompson St., Dumont.

Arrested Tuesday on aggravated assault charges were Silvio Zapata, 21, of 176 Lexington Ave., Dumont; Nicky Garcia Jr., 19, of 17D Georgian Court; Douglas Matter, 19, of 11 Frederick Place; Marco Fernandez, 18, of 160 S. Prospect Ave., and John Ortiz, 18, of 33 Bridge St.

ARREST OF 12 AVERTS FIGHT, POLICE SAY

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 6, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B02

Four men and eight youths from Englewood were arrested Monday night as they headed into Bergenfield to retaliate against borough youths for a fight last week, police said.

Working on an anonymous tip, police were waiting for the suspects when they arrived on Howard Drive about 9:45 p.m., said Bergenfield Police Capt. George Grube.

The suspects, traveling in two cars when Bergenfield police Officers Mark Richards and Russell Stuebe stopped them, had a loaded .22-caliber rifle, three knives, and four baseball bats, Grube said.

“They were looking for some of the guys who were involved in an incident last Monday,” he said. “Fortunately, we got to them before somebody really did get hurt.”

A Bergenfield youth apparently punched a youth from Englewood last week, Grube said. He did not know what sparked the fight.

The suspects were charged with illegal possession of weapons, and Grube said police were considering other charges.

Seven youths were released to their parents, and one was being held in detention.

Louis Aguilar, 20, of 208 Waldo Place, was released on $5,000 bail.

Darrius Griffin, 21, and Edward Russell, 20, both of 245 Central Ave., and Maximo Colon, 18, of 32 Brookway Ave., were being held in the Bergen County Jail on $5,000 bail each.

MOTHER, 3 CHILDREN DIE AS FIRE DESTROYS HOME

By Michael O. Allen and Laura Impellizzeri, Record Staff Writers | Wednesday, June 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Three Star P | NEWS | Page A18

After being driven back twice by heavy smoke and intense heat, a disoriented William McClain could do nothing but scream for help as a raging fire destroyed his home and family early Tuesday.
Four members of the family the mother, a daughter, and two sons died in the two second-floor bedrooms as a result of the 12:30 a.m. blaze at 86 Haring St. in Bergenfield.
The youngest child, Patrick, 7, was in “extremely critical condition” Tuesday evening at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said.
Firefighters found Lelia McClain, 39, unconscious in bed upstairs in the master bedroom. Katie, 9, was found unconscious on the floor in that room. The mother died at 5:30 a.m. at Hackensack Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Katie was admitted to Englewood Hospital in critical condition, and died before dawn.
The two oldest sons William “Billy” McClain, 16, and Brian, 13 were found, with Patrick, huddled in the northwest corner of their bedroom, said Lt. Robert Kops, chief of the prosecutor’s arson investigation unit. They were dead on arrival at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck.
Kops said the fire started in the kitchen, in the southwest corner of the house, spread into the dining and living rooms, and sent a thick wall of smoke and intense heat up the stairs. The heat and a black haze apparently prevented the father from crossing the tiny upstairs hallway to the children’s bedroom when he heard one of them yell “fire,” Fahy said.
The house was gutted. Tuesday afternoon, its powder-blue siding, though melted and bent around the charred kitchen window, was still mostly intact, hiding the devastation within.
Bergenfield Deputy Fire Chief Edward Kneisler said there was no smoke detector in the 75-year-old house, where the McClains had lived since 1977. The alarms are not required.
“When we got there it was fully involved,” he said. “A $20 smoke detector in this house and it might have saved someone’s life.”
Kneisler said about 30 Bergenfield firefighters, with standby support from Dumont, Closter, and Tenafly, extinguished the blaze in about 30 minutes.
Bergenfield Police Officer Pete Murphy said he was in the area about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday on an unrelated investigation when he heard someone screaming.
Murphy said that when he turned the corner at West Clinton Avenue onto Haring Street, black smoke blanketed the whole block. He found McClain, 39, sitting on the first-floor porch’s roof, which forms a sloped ledge outside his bedroom window, screaming that his family was trapped inside. Murphy said he could not talk him into jumping from the roof.
Murphy and Bergenfield Police Officer Owen M. Rynn, who is also a volunteer firefighter, tried to go into the house.
“We kicked in the front door,” Murphy said. “We got into the living room, about halfway through, but the smoke was too thick and the heat.”
“We came out and it went up,” said Rynn. He could see flames in the kitchen as he crawled several feet into the living room beneath the acrid, knee-level smoke.
Neighbors Peter Field, 23, and Matt Gelis, 21, rushed over with a ladder when they heard McClain shouting, and saw smoke billowing out of the house.
“The father was on the roof and my first reaction was to grab the ladder and help him down,” said Gelis, who has known the family since the younger children were babies.
“It’s horrifying,” Gelis said. “You’re just sitting there, and you can’t get in the house and you’re just waiting for firefighters.”
The police helped McClain from the roof. Field and Gelis brother Jason ran to the back of the house yelling the children’s names, but got no answer, the youths said. The police officers then climbed the ladder and tried to go into the master bedroom, but were again beaten back by the heat. Seconds later, firefighters arrived.
Murphy said McClain was suffering from shock and smoke inhalation and appeared to be “completely devastated.”
“I don’t know how this guy is going to make it,” Murphy said.
Fahy said the cause of the fire was not determined, but it did not appear suspicious. Neighbors said a planned two-room, one-story addition on the back of the house was nearing completion; Fahy said the work was not a factor in the fire.
Volunteer Bergenfield firefighter Jack DeLucia, who drove the ladder truck that put out the blaze, returned to the scene about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, still shaken by the experience.
“If somebody could have seen the fire 10 minutes earlier,” DeLucia said. “It’s been said many times before, but smoke alarms, smoke alarms.”
Bergenfield Mayor Robert Gallione said the borough follows the state building code, which does not require that single-family dwellings have smoke detectors. The building department, however, began looking at ways to strengthen the codes earlier this year, he said.
“We will be getting a report regarding changes to be made,” Gallione said. “Any opportunity that we get to save just one life, we will take the appropriate action. We have relied on public education and voluntary compliance, with smoke suppression and smoke detection devices.
Record Staff Writers Tom Toolen and Linda Voorhis contributed to this article.

Keywords: FIRE; DEATH; VICTIM; BERGENFIELD; FAMILY

Caption: PHOTO – JOHN DECKER / THE RECORD – A shocked neighbor looking at house where four family members died.

Notes: 2 of 2 versions

BERGENFIELD FIRE ROUTS TENANTS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, March 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

Borough fire officials are investigating a predawn fire Saturday that started in a basement apartment and shot flames into the top floors of a home housing three tenants.
The tenant of the basement apartment at 7 Foster St. was not at home when the fire started about 4:15 a.m., said Bergenfield Deputy Fire Chief Edward Kneisler. Smoke alarms awakened the two other tenants in the building and they were not injured.
Police confiscated two cases of ammunition that firefighters discovered in a fenced-off lot adjacent to the burning house, Kneisler said. The ammunition was not near the flames, he said. No details were immediately available.
Bergenfield firefighters received assistance from Closter firefighters, while the Dumont department was on standby and Teaneck provided support services.

Keywords: BERGENFIELD; FIRE

Caption: PHOTO – WARREN GOLDBERG / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD – Firefighters extending lengths of hose used to battle a predawn fire in a house on Foster Street in Bergenfield on Saturday. Two residents escaped the home without injury after a smoke alarm sounded.

VICTIMS HOPE TO CLAIM STOLEN GOODS AT `BAZAAR’

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, February 7, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

More than 200 North Jersey and New York State residents whose homes were hit by burglars filed through the Bergenfield police station this week, searching through a cache of recovered goods for their belongings.
Detective T.J. Lee Jr. was directing people Wednesday morning past the makeshift jewelry table arrayed with dozens of rings, broaches, necklaces, armbands, medallions, and wristwatches. Larger items such as fur coats and electronic equipment were displayed in the basement.
“You may step up close,” Lee said to the procession. “If you see anything that you recognize, tell me. I’ll be glad to show it to you. “
Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said at a briefing Wednesday that the items on display were among hundreds stolen from North Jersey homes and recovered in raids at two Bergenfield residences last week.
As of Wednesday afternoon, some 215 people had visited the station, but only a handful of items were identified by their owners.
A Teaneck woman brought a photograph of herself wearing a 24-inch herringbone gold necklace that was recovered in the raids. Detective Stephen Cassiero of the Mamaroneck Police Department in Westchester County identified a .357-caliber Magnum revolver that had been stolen in the town. It was one of four handguns recovered by police.
But most people could not identify any possessions.
A Washington Township couple searching unsuccessfully through the haul said all the gifts they received for their 50th wedding anniversary in October, along with jewelry and money, were stolen from their home Dec. 15, hours after they left for a vacation in upstate New York.
The couple, who declined to be identified out of fear they would be victimized again, hurriedly returned home the next day to find their home ransacked and strewn with debris. Peacock ornaments that had been mounted on the wall were on the floor, shattered.
“I hope it hit them on the head when they fell to the floor,” the man said.
A woman and her husband who accompanied Ridgefield Police Lt. Vincent Zacco to the station also didn’t see any property belonging to them.
“I was saying I wasn’t going to get my hopes up, but they were up,” she said, the disappointment evident in her face.
In the raids Friday night, detectives from Teaneck, Bergenfield, Englewood, Fort Lee, Hackensack, and the recently formed burglary squad of the Prosecutor’s Office seized the stolen goods at 16-B Morrissey Walk and 12 Carnation St. in Bergenfield.
Fahy declined to estimate the value of the items seized.
Police are hoping that many more items can be identified by their owners, and have set another session for residents to come into the station on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.
“We are hoping to have a lot of victims identify items so that we can not only give their property back to them, but sign additional complaints against the defendants,” said Bergenfield Detective Sgt. James J. Stoltenborg.
For instance, Stoltenborg said that Saulter, who raised his $100,000 bail and was released from the Bergen County Jail Tuesday, had been rearrested in Teaneck by detectives from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department and the Bergenfield Police Department for violation of probation and on a complaint stemming from a burglary in Ridgefield. A woman from the borough identified a gold necklace with a diamond anchor as one of the items stolen in a burglary of her home.
On Wednesday, Englewood Municipal Court Judge Joseph M. Clark ordered Saulter held without bail for violation of probation on a marijuana-possession charge.
Beckford and Hicks, who are out on bail, also faced additional charges, police said.

Keywords: BERGENFIELD; POLICE; BURGLARY; VICTIM

Caption: 2 COLOR PHOTOS BY STEVE HOCKSTEIN / THE RECORD 1 – Bracelets, bangles, and chains – part of the cache of jewelry recovered by Bergenfield police – await their owners, left. 2 – A fur held by Detective Jonathan D. Cochran was among the items taken by burglars in New Jersey and New York State.

RAIDS BY BURGLARY TASK FORCE YIELD 3 ARRESTS IN BERGENFIELD

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, February 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

Three borough residents were charged Saturday with receiving stolen property following raids on their apartments.
The raids were performed by investigators with a task force formed two weeks ago by 15 Bergen County communities caught in the throes of a wave of burglaries and break-ins.
Leroy Saulter, 27, of 16-B Morrissey Walk was being held on $100,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, and Sandra Hicks, 31, of 12 Carnation St. was being held on $15,000 bail. Florence Beckford, 25, of 16-B Morrissey Walk, was released after she paid $2,500, 10 percent of her $25,000 bail.
Detectives from Bergenfield, Teaneck, Englewood, Fort Lee, and the burglary squad of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office raided Hicks and Beckford’s apartments about 9:30 Friday night.
Police seized items they believe were stolen, including jewelry, fur and leather coats and jackets, stereo equipment, automatic handguns, silver dollars, and rare coins, said Bergenfield Police Chief Richard G. Baroch.
The items are believed to have been stolen in a wave of robberies that has gripped many Bergen County communities in recent months, he said. Bergenfield alone had 75 burglaries in the past six months, including 16 in the first 11 days of 1991, Baroch said.
Teaneck, Englewood, River Edge, Oakland, and several other communities saw several break-ins in late 1990, Baroch said.
Bergen County burglary victims who want to determine if their property is among the items seized should should take a copy of their police report to the Bergenfield Police Department at 198 N. Washington St. on Monday or Friday from 5 until 8 p.m. or on Wednesday from 9 a.m. until noon, the chief said.
Saulter was charged with three counts of criminal possession of firearms, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, two counts of receiving stolen property a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and a .357 Magnum revolver criminal possession of six hollow-nose .357 Magnum bullets, criminal possession of a switchblade knife, and possession of a weapon after being convicted of a crime in the state of New Jersey.
Hicks was charged with receiving a stolen leather jacket valued at $900 and criminal possession of .380-caliber automatic pistol, which was loaded with five rounds. Charges against Beckford include possession of a switchblade knife, hollow-nose bullets, marijuana, and items used to smoke marijuana.

Keywords: BERGENFIELD; THEFT; ROBBERY

Notes: Bergen page

MAN WAS STRANGLED, AUTOPSY REVEALS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 13, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B02

An elderly Bergenfield man whose son is charged with his murder was strangled by hand and with a rope or string, according to an autopsy report disclosed Wednesday. Robert Tillman, 73, was also struck about the face with a blunt object, had two broken ribs, and was missing a couple of teeth, but his death was caused by the strangulation, said Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Sharyn Peiffer, head of homicide investigations.

Peiffer would not say what led investigators to Bruce Tillman, 31, who had lived with his father at 310 Phelps Ave. for about a month before the killing Sunday. Tillman was charged with murder Monday and was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $750,000 bail.

The criminal complaint against Tillman said undisclosed evidence found at the house led police to charge him.

Tillman and his brother, Robert Tillman Jr. of North Bergen, went to Bergenfield police Sunday night to report finding their father’s body in the house. A search of the crime scene found no sign of forced entry or robbery, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Monday. Robert Tillman Jr. was not charged.

Police said they believe the murder occurred about noon Sunday, following a “fierce altercation” between the father and son. The two men had bruises on their bodies, Fahy said.
Peiffer said authorities believe the elder Tillman sustained his injuries during the fight.