6 years after N.J. woman was strangled to death, alleged killer indicted

Timothy Simon was charged with the murder of Lawanda Strickland in January after an investigation by cold case detectives.

CAMDEN -- A 47-year-old Texas man accused of strangling his girlfriend to death inside their city home nearly six years ago was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder Tuesday. 

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said a grand jury indicted Timothy Simon in connection with the killing of 31-year-old Lawanda Strickland, who was found dead inside their home on Jackson Street on July 10, 2010. 

During Simon's arraignment in January, Assistant Prosecutor Peter Gallagher argued Simon was abusive and controlling during the pair's relationship, behavior consistent with Simon's violent criminal history.

Eight years before he allegedly killed Strickland, Simon was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity after he choked and stabbed an ex-girlfriend in Salem City.

At the time of Strickland's death, Simon told police the two had argued over Simon's drinking the night before she was found dead. Simon told police he spent the night going to two different friends' homes in Gibbstown and Camden and found Strickland dead the following morning. She was cold to the touch when authorities arrived at the home at 11:30 a.m.

Phone records showed Simon called Strickland 11 times between 8:30 p.m. and 12:23 a.m. that three more times between 3:45 a.m. and 4 a.m.

At the time of Strickland's death, Simon was already facing aggravated assault charges for choking Strickland in March.

Accused killer has violent past

While a vaginal swab of Strickland's body matched Simon's DNA in April of 2011, it wasn't until Camden County cold case investigators got results back from a second DNA test on clippings from Strickland's fingernails late last year that Simon was charged with murder. 

He was tracked down in Houston by U.S. Marshals and returned to New Jersey on Jan. 27. He remains in Camden County Jail in lieu of $1 million full-cash bail. 

At Simon's arraignment earlier this year, Strickland's family described the mother of two as an angel and a loving woman who would go out of her way to help her friends and family. 

"It's been so long I didn't think they would ever catch him," Strickland's aunt, Tanya Reed, said at the time.