Anna Shpilberg, 40, female, White, was found dead on February 16, 2021 in Newark after returning from a trip; her body was discovered in the passenger seat of her vehicle near the area of Edison Place and Bruen Street, and authorities later determined she had been fatally shot.
That night she and her close friend had been picked up at Newark Liberty International Airport by a man who was dating Shpilberg; prosecutors say the women got into his car after their flight and were driven to
an off-airport parking area, where both were shot and left at different locations in Newark. One of the victims was later found on a sidewalk near Haynes Avenue by the airport, and the other in Shpilberg's car near Penn Station; the shootings happened only minutes apart, leaving friends and family stunned by how quickly a routine return from vacation turned deadly.
Shortly after the slayings the suspect — identified as John P. Menendez, a Hudson County corrections officer at the time — approached a Newark police officer and admitted what he had done, reportedly saying “I killed both of them. Just arrest me, bro,” according to court papers and arrest reports; investigators recovered a service weapon connected to the killings near one of the scenes. The record and prosecutors' accounts later described a pattern of jealous text messages in the days before the trip and, in some post-arrest statements, the suspect claimed steroid use affected his actions, though prosecutors emphasized preexisting anger and jealousy as part of their case.
The case moved through the courts over the following years: Menendez was charged in 2021 with the deaths, later pleaded guilty in 2025 to counts of aggravated manslaughter for the killings, and was sentenced to lengthy, consecutive prison terms that reflect the state's No Early Release requirements; prosecutors called the murders senseless acts of domestic violence and said the sentences aimed to provide some measure of closure to the victims' families.
