News Wife Still Missing One Year Later

A year after the wife of an Irish man went missing, police are still trying to determine her whereabouts.

Liza Murphy, the wife of Co. Carlow native Joseph Murphy, went missing from her home on August 19, 2007. Murphy, then 43 and a mother of three children, disappeared from her home in Emerson, New Jersey with only the clothes on her back after an argument with her husband.

Since her disappearance last year, police have had no sightings of Murphy.

Suspecting their daughter is dead, Sophia Stellatos, Liza's mother, said last week, "My husband and I know that if she were still alive, which we don't believe she is, some way, somehow, she would have gotten in touch with us."

Murphy, a painter by trade, stepped in front of a car in what police suspected was a suicide attempt four days after his wife went missing.

Police reports indicate that Murphy first stepped out in front of a bus and a Lexus automobile, but both vehicles managed to swerve and avoid him. However, he made a third attempt and stepped in front of a fire official's cruiser, which hit him hard after trying to change direction.

Murphy was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with a broken pelvis, internal and facial injuries. The father of three wrote farewell letters to his sister, his wife Liza and his seven, 11, and 13-year-old children.

Murphy's lawyer, Joseph Rem said his client is innocent and that he only attempted suicide at the sadness of his wife's disappearance."He confronted her about her affair the night in question and she left the house," said Rem.

He added that Murphy also attempted suicide 17 years ago when the couple separated.

Rem was also quick to point out that Liza was on anti-depressants and had two misdemeanor changes against her from two neighbors, one of whom was her brother.

Police had been called to the Murphy home numerous times over the years for disturbances.

Murphy, who has never been declared a suspect in his wife's disappearance, has only given police one interview.

Liza's father Andrew Stellatos told The Record of Bergen County after his daughter's disappearance that the couple have always had problems.

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Nster.com