LODI, N.J. — A man was charged Saturday with stabbing his estranged wife to death, then fleeing with their two young sons to South Carolina, where he was captured and the boys were found safe after a five-state Amber Alert, authorities said.
Police who arrived at the home of Tracy Jordan, 39, in Lodi to conduct a welfare check Friday night found her dead of multiple stab wounds, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office. Her worried mother had called police after she hadn’t been able to get ahold of her and no one answered a knock at the door, a family friend said.
Police then learned that Tracy Jordan’s estranged husband, John Robert Jordan, 47, had taken their young sons out of school under false pretenses, prosecutors said. The boys lived with their mother.
An Amber Alert was issued for the 7- and 8-year-old boys in New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Police and the FBI began to conduct surveillance on homes in South Carolina and California, where some of his relatives lived.
About 12:45 a.m. Saturday, FBI and local police officers in Greenville, S.C., saw Jordan pull up at a residence in his wife’s car, prosecutors said. He was arrested without incident, and the children were found unharmed in the vehicle.
Jordan has been charged with murder and possessing a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He remains in custody in South Carolina awaiting extradition proceedings.
Marie Dejulia, who knows the family, told The Record of Woodland Park that Tracy Jordan had anticipated that her divorce would be finalized in the coming days.
Dejulia told the newspaper that Jordan’s mother went to her apartment in the Cynthia Gardens complex after she was unable to contact her daughter. The mother called police after there was no answer when she knocked on the door.
The body was found inside the apartment about 5:15 p.m. Friday. Lodi police and county authorities quickly cordoned off the area, neighbors said.
