ELIZABETH — A Union County jury has convicted an Elizabeth man of murdering his wife a little more than three years ago, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park announced today.
The jury deliberated for a matter of hours over the course of two days following an approximately three-week trial before state Superior Court Judge Robert Mega, returning guilty verdicts late Thursday against 51-year-old Reco Parks in connection with the death of 45-year-old Thya Wilson.
The date was Jan. 6, 2012 when police rushed to the Oakwood Plaza housing complex on Parker Road in Elizabeth on a report of a body found in a second-floor hallway of one of the complex’s buildings, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutors Albert Cernadas Jr. and Meghan Tomlinson, who prosecuted the case.
A joint investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Elizabeth Police Department determined that Parks had bludgeoned and stabbed his wife to death following an argument that had occurred two days prior to when her body was found, then dumped her outside of his own apartment in an effort to make it appear that she had been attacked and killed by someone else as she was coming home.
Parks is expected to be sentenced to a term of up to life in state prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 20.