By: Richard L. Smith
Image by: Asbury Park Press
A Middlesex County jury has convicted an Edison man of murdering his former girlfriend (pictured above) and attempting to conceal her remains in a case that shocked communities across New Jersey nearly four years ago.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Friday that 32-year-old Jordan J. Vilcatoma-Correjo of Edison Township was found guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree disturbing human remains in connection with the death of 26-year-old Sonia Gonzalez, also of Edison.
The verdict followed a trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley. Jurors deliberated over portions of two days before returning guilty verdicts on both charges.
According to prosecutors, Atlantic Highlands police officers responding to a call shortly before 7:45 a.m. on June 10, 2022, discovered Gonzalez's body in the backseat of a Honda Accord parked near Asbury Avenue between Navesink and Grand avenues.
Authorities said her body had been covered with garbage bags and showed signs of strangulation and blunt-force trauma.
Investigators also located Vilcatoma-Correjo at the scene, where he was immediately taken into custody.
The investigation, conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Atlantic Highlands Police Department, Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, and Edison Police Department, led to criminal charges and a grand jury indictment later that year.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that Gonzalez had changed her phone number and altered her daily routine in an effort to avoid contact with Vilcatoma-Correjo following the end of their relationship. 
Prosecutors argued that the defendant became increasingly obsessive, aggressive, and threatening in the days leading up to the killing.
The jury ultimately rejected the defense's passion-provocation argument and found Vilcatoma-Correjo guilty of the charges.