For the second time in less than a month, the murder of a child in Camden is being linked to PCP, prosecutors said.
Osvaldo Rivera, 31, of Camden, is accused of fatally stabbing 6-year-old Dominick Andujar and critically wounding Andujar’s 12-year-old sister.
Authorities said the incident happened early Sunday at a home where the children lived on the 900 block of Ware Street.
Rivera was arrested Sunday at an apartment on the 3200 block of River Road where authorities found him hiding between a mattress and a bedroom wall, prosecutors said. He has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Police responded after the 12-year-old escaped the home and ran to a neighbor’s house. Two other siblings in the home at the time were unharmed. Rivera knew the family, although his relationship is unclear, according to Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
Rivera allegedly told investigators that he smoked “wet” before the killing, according to prosecutors. The drug is a combination of marijuana and PCP that causes users to hallucinate and sometimes turn violent.
The drug was also believed to be involved in a murder-suicide last month. Chevonne Thomas is believed to have smoked wet prior to beheading her two-year-son Zahree and fatally stabbing herself on Aug. 22.
