Charles Sawyer Charged with Ex-Wife's Murder in Glassboro

The ex-husband of a Glassboro woman who was allegedly stalking and harassing her recently has been charged with murder and weapons offenses after she was shot and killed Monday night, Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Bernie Weisenfeld said Tuesday.

Charles Sawyer, 58, of Glassboro, was arrested around midnight near the Pole Tavern Circle in Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, after he ran from his Jeep Wrangler and led police on a brief chase, Weisenfeld said.

He now faces murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose charges, and has had his bail set at $750,000 cash, for allegedly shooting his ex-wife, Rita Sawyer, 53, in the head in her Sherwood Lane home late Monday night. A gun was found near where he was caught in Pittsgrove Township, Weisenfeld said.

The Sawyers had been divorced since 2004, Weisenfeld said, and Rita Sawyer had made a complaint to police just five days before the shooting that Charles Sawyer had been stalking her and harassing her. She didn’t seek a restraining order at the time, but Glassboro police were alerted to keep an eye out for him near her home.

Though the couple have two children, they did not live with their mother, and no other people were in the home at the time of the shooting, Weisenfeld said.