Wandering five-year-old leads police to mother's murder scene

Police find mother with stab wound to her neck

New Jersey police were led by a wandering five-year-old to the murder scene of the child's mother.

Police in Dumont, New Jersey, received a 911 call just after midnight that a small child was wandering around, alone, near an apartment complex's courtyard area.

Responding officers found the child relatively quickly after arriving and tried to return them home.

Police learned that the child's aunt and mother were both living in the complex. The aunt told officers that her sister, Michelle Burns, hadn't been answering her phone for some time, and that earlier in the day she'd heard her sister arguing with her boyfriend.

When officers went to visit the mother and return the child, they discovered that she had been murdered.

Bergen County Prosecutor Mike Musella described the scene to reporters during a press conference.

"Officers entered Ms Burns' apartment to conduct a welfare check and found her deceased. She had been stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife. The Dumont Police Department then notified the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit and Bergen County Sheriff's Department Bureau of Criminal Investigations."

WABC, a New York affiliate of ABC News, spoke to a neighbour that claimed the couple was constantly fighting.

The woman's boyfriend, Jeffery Daniels, was found by police in another town trying to knock on the front doors of houses. According to the police, Mr Daniels had Ms Burns' two other children - an 18-month-old and a 6-month-old- with him at the time.

Mr Daniels was arrested and charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.