Inset top: Dennis Hall (Gloucester County Prosecutor”s Office). Inset bottom: Devin Hall (Barclay Funeral Home). Background: The room where the victim was reportedly killed (WPVI/YouTube).
A woman in New Jersey says she was woken up by her husband who told her he had strangled their daughter to death because she wet the bed.
Dennis Hall, 71, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Devin Hall, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office announced. He remained in the Salem County Jail as of Tuesday.
On Thursday at about 6:15 a.m., Jan Hall was at her home on East Avenue in Franklin Township, New Jersey, about 30 miles south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She lived there with her husband — Dennis Hall — and child Devin Hall, who was nonverbal and used a wheelchair.
Jan Hall said her husband woke her up that morning and made a startling admission.
“When he woke me up, I asked him what was wrong, and he said, ‘I strangled Devin. She’s dead,’ the woman recalled to regional ABC affiliate WPVI. “And I thought I didn’t hear him right.”
According to Jan Hall, she gave her daughter CPR, and they rushed her to a hospital. Dennis Hall called 911, saying his daughter “was not breathing,” and he “admitted to strangling the victim both on the call to emergency services and to officers when they arrived,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
The suspect was initially charged with attempted murder, but when Devin Hall was taken off life support and pronounced dead the following day, the charge was upgraded. An autopsy was performed on Sunday, determining that “the immediate cause of death was asphyxiation and the manner of death was homicide.”
Jan Hall provided several statements that suggest what led up to the alleged attack.
“I would just like him to have told me why he did it,” she said. “He had an opportunity to come in and get me when he went in there and she had wet the bed. He could’ve came and woke me up. And I could’ve helped him.”
Jan Hall added that her husband had been dealing with mental health issues over the past year and was undergoing treatment for depression. She told the local TV station that she was worried something like this could happen.
“It’s like hell. I feel like I’m walking in a nightmare,” she said.
Devin Hall’s obituary states that she was “a special daughter who endured many challenges and struggles during her life on this earth. She was an inspiration to others, and she touched many with her beauty, gentle kindness, and innocent presence.”
It is unclear when Dennis Hall is scheduled to appear in court.
