Seidle Indicted, Faces Life In Prison

Philip Seidle

The Neptune Township police officer who shot and killed his wife in Asbury Park last June was indicted by a Monmouth County Grand Jury this morning, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Philip Seidle, 51, a 22 year veteran of the Neptune Police Department, was charged with one count of First Degree Murder, one count of Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Asbury Park police responded to a report of an unrelated motor vehicle accident near the intersection of Ridge and Sewall Avenues in the city at approximately 11:26 a.m. on June 16, 2015. During that service call, the black 2012 Volkswagen Jetta, driven by Tamara Seidle, turned the corner onto Sewall Avenue before crashing into a parked 2002 Ford Focus. The Jetta was being followed closely by the 2005 Honda Pilot driven by Philip Seidle, who exited the vehicle, pulled out a handgun and approached the driver’s side of the Jetta. Philip Seidle fired multiple shots into the vehicle, striking Tamara Seidle. Philip Seidle then turned the weapon on himself, pointing the weapon at his head, before moving to the front of the Jetta and firing several more shots into the windshield of the vehicle.

After firing the second round of shot-bursts, Philip Seidle returned the weapon to his head prompting a stand-off with on-scene police officers from the Asbury Park and Neptune Township police departments. The stand-off with Seidle ended around 12:17 p.m. when he surrendered and was taken into custody. In addition to officers from the Asbury Park and Neptune Township police departments, investigators from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service responded to the scene.

Seidel is now in custody of the Mercer County Correctional Institution, Hopewell, on $2 million bail as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, P.J.Cr. Since his bail was set upon his June 16 arrest, a motion for bail reduction before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner was denied.

Seidle faces life without parole because the grand jury found he committed the homicidal act by his own conduct and due to the existence of two aggravating factors – that he purposely or knowingly created a grave risk of danger of death to another person in addition to the victim; and that the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind or an aggravated assault to the victim.