OLD BRIDGE, NJ—Authorities arrested a 30-year-old man and charged him with killing his 61-year-old mother over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Frank Polera was charged on November 27 with the crime that ended the life of Patricia Polera one day earlier, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO).

“Police were called to the victim’s home on Kirschman Drive on November 26, 2016 at 8:48 p.m. to find the woman had been killed in the home she shared with her son,” read the official press release.  “She was pronounced dead at the scene.”

An autopsy conducted by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office “showed the victim died from asphyxiation by compression,” according to the statement.

Frank Polera was charged during an investigation by Detective Addie Spinola of the Old Bridge Police Department (OBPD) and Detective Joseph Chesseri of the MCPO.

It’s at least the second case of an adult killing one of their parents in Middlesex County this year.  In June, a 20-year-old man was charged with killing his 53-year-old father inside his Sayreville home.

Polera has been incarcerated at the Middlesex County Jail on $500,000 bail, with no option to post 10% of that amount, according to the jail’s records department.

In order to be released, Polera would also have to undergo a psychological evaluation and anyone posting the bail would have to complete a “bail source packet.”

“The prosecutor wants to know where the funds are coming from if anyone is going to bail him out,” said an employee of the jail’s records department.

The investigation was described as “active and… continuing” in the MCPO press release, which was not sent to New Brunswick Today.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Spinola at (732) 721-5600, extension 3181, or Detective Chesseri at (732) 745-3115.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.