New Jersey authorities arrested 42-year-old Shawn Custis in Manhattan and faces charges of attempted murder, robbery, burglary and child endangerment, the Associated Press reported. The home invasion that left a mother beaten, which was captured on a nanny cam. The case was filed by the the Essex County prosecutor's office.
The attack occurred last Friday in Millburn, New Jersey was captured on hidden camera in the woman's home. A man can be seen bursting into the home, punching and kicking the woman and throwing her downstairs while her 3-year-old daughter sat frightened on a couch. Police withheld the names of the woman and child.
County chief of detectives Anthony Ambrose said Friday that Curtis was being transported to an undisclosed location in New Jersey. "It was a horrific and brutal crime and detectives and the FBI did a really good job cooperating together to bring this individual to justice," Ambrose told The Star-Ledger.
Police withheld the woman's name to protect the her identity and requested the faces of her and her child be blurred when the video was aired. She suffered a concussion, bruises, chipped teeth and cuts around the mouth that required stitches, police said. The nanny cam footage shows the woman sitting next to her child in front of the TV, then getting up to check out a noise of the frame. It then shows her backing up and being attacked by a man who rushes her, news reports said
Custis assaulted the woman multiple times when going back to the first floor, as he kicked and punched her relentlessly.
"I knew that if I started screaming, my daughter would, too, and I was afraid she would get hurt," the woman told News 12 New Jersey. "I took it. I didn't cry the entire time."
Police said the attacker made off with jewelry, which News 12 reported included the woman's wedding ring. Neither the 3-year-old girl nor a 1-year-old boy upstairs was injured.
Curtis faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted on the attempted murder charge, and three to five years for the burglary charge, The Star-Ledger also reported.
