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Ex-Officer ID'd In Wife's Death, Turnpike Chase To Ridgefield Park

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. (UPDATE): State Police on Sunday confirmed that they found a retired police office from Rhode Island with a self-inflicted gunshot wound -- and his slain wife in the trunk of his car -- after a brief chase and crash Saturday night on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike in Ridgefield Park.

NJSP

NJSP

Photo Credit: COURTESY: New Jersey State Police

Franklin Osgood, 61, was pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center just after 11:30 p.m., about two hours after the crash, the NJSP said in a release.

Authorities in Rhode Island said Osgood left the Providence force in 2007 and began receiving accidental disability payments two years later.

They issued an "armed and dangerous" alert for him on Saturday after they said Osgood took off with his wife, Mary Jo, while in a "disturbed state," leaving behind evidence in the family garage that he'd harmed her.

New Jersey state troopers tried to stop Osgood's blue 2007 Dodge Charger on the Turnpike around 9:30 p.m., barely 20 minutes after receiving a tip from Providence detectives.

His cellphone had earlier been pinged to the Philadelphia area, authorities said.

Instead of stopping for the troopers, Osgood kept going before the Dodge crashed into a guard rail and a trooper's cruiser, they said.

Troopers found the body of 55-year-old Mary Jo Osgood in the trunk and a semi-automatic handgun "inside the passenger compartment," the NJSP said.

Mary Jo Osgood was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:25 a.m., State Police said. The trooper who was involved in the crash sustained non-life-threatening injuries, they said.

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