Crime & Safety

South Jersey Man Stabbed Wife to Death, Authorities Say

Eighty-three-year-old William Coggins has been charged with murder in the violent death of his wife, Laura Coggins, last week.

An 83-year-old Cinnaminson man brutally stabbed his wife to death in their home last week before attempting to commit suicide, according to authorities.

William Coggins, of 820 Westfield Drive, has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, 81-year-old Laura Coggins, whose body was discovered last Monday by Mr. Coggins’ brother in the bathroom of the home she and her husband shared, according to a release from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.

Cinnaminson Police arrived at the home—in a 55-and-over community—just after 11 a.m. on Nov. 4 and found Mrs. Coggins, authorities said. She was fully clothed, with multiple stab and slash wounds to her body. Mr. Coggins was also in the home, and had stab wounds to his torso and lacerations on his arms. Authorities said he had called his brother, who first discovered Mrs. Coggins’ body.

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Mr. Coggins was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden for treatment. He was released Wednesday and taken into custody by detectives from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and Cinnaminson Police Department.

He was charged with murder, with bail set at $500,000. The court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation as a condition of bail, according to a release. Mr. Coggins is in the process of being transported to an area medical facility for evaluation, though authorities would not disclose which facility.

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The investigation revealed the wounds suffered by Mr. Coggins were self-inflicted and the result of an apparent suicide attempt, authorities said. Investigators recovered two knives inside the home.

The prosecutor’s office said it would not be divulging a motive at this time.

A first appearance in Superior Court will be scheduled dependent on the results of the psychiatric evaluation.

The case is being investigated by detectives from the Cinnaminson Township Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.

This is the ninth homicide in Burlington County this year, and the second in Cinnaminson. Steven Donaldson, of Shamong, was charged earlier this year with the murder of 1-year-old Claudia Nunes at his girlfriend's Cinnaminson home. Donaldson is scheduled to appear before Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey for a pre-trial conference on Nov. 21.

This is also the third murder in the area just in the last month. Twenty-two-year-old Te'Aira Denise Earvin's body was discovered on Carriage House Lane in Riverton on Oct. 13, the victim of a fatal shooting. Her murder remains unsolved.

And earlier this month, 38-year-old John Borger IV was charged with fatally stabbing Mark Brooks, 44, outside his home in Maple Shade. Authorities said Brooks was dating Borger's estranged wife

Stay with Patch for more on this story as it becomes available.

Information provided by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. An arrest does not indicate a conviction.


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