A $1 million cash only bail has been set for a Jersey City man charged with fatally stabbing his 82-year-old mother-in-law and critically wounding his wife who made his first court appearance on the charges this afternoon.
JERSEY CITY -- A $1 million cash only bail has been set for a city man charged with fatally stabbing his 82-year-old mother-in-law and critically wounding his wife last week.
Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael D'Andrea argued that the high bail was appropriate because the defendant, Oliver Pangilinan, 53, of Winfield Avenue is a flight risk and had attempted to flee after the incident on Friday afternoon.
"After he allegedly engaged in a homicidal and assaultive conduct, he fled the scene in a high speed chase on the Turnpike and caused an accident with a semi-trailer and was eventually arrested by State Police near Exit 11 (in Woodbridge Township)."
Pangilinan, who made his first court appearance on the charges this afternoon, is charged with murdering Consolacion Escolana and stabbing his 48-year-old wife -- the dead woman's daughter -- with a large hunting knife during a violent outburst at the family's Winfield Avenue home at around 12:30 p.m. Friday.
Authorities have not named the wife.
At the 1 p.m. hearing conducted with a translator, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Sheila Venable said the bail is fair, considering the charges. The judge also ordered the father of two sons to have no contact with his wife and to surrender his travel documents.
Escolana and her daughter were both in critical condition when they were taken to Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health on Friday. Escolana succumbed to her injuries overnight and was pronounced dead around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, said Gene Rubino, acting chief of detectives for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.
D'Andrea said Pangilinan's 48-year-old wife is now "critical but stable in the hospital and more surgeries are anticipated."
Pangilinan allegedly struck Escalona "multiple times with a machete in the neck area," and her death was caused by those wounds, the criminal complaint says.
The defendant appeared in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail on Kearny. He did not qualify for a public defender.