HOWELL, N.J. – New Jersey State Police say a trooper struck by a car on Interstate 195 while looking for two people who had abandoned a vehicle has died.
Marc Castellano was struck around 10 a.m. Sunday in a westbound lane of the highway, near an exit ramp in Howell Township, Capt. Gerald Lewis Jr. said in a statement issued early Sunday night.
No further details were disclosed.
The abandoned auto's driver, 30-year-old Diana Hoffman of Blackwood, N.J., was later found hiding nearby in the woods and was taken into custody.
Hoffman told authorities that a man was riding with her, and dozens of troopers, local police and other law enforcement personnel spent hours looking for him.
But Capt. Gerald Lewis Jr. said Sunday night that investigators were questioning the validity" of Hoffman's claims.
Funeral Details New Jersey State Police website