Man sentenced 20 years for fatal stabbing

Wellington Leonardo was sentenced on July 8 to 20 years in state prison after a Middlesex County jury convicted him in the 2024 killing of his wife, Rosana Rodriguez, inside their Perth Amboy home. Superior Court Judge Andrea Carter imposed the sentence in Middlesex County, according to News 12. Jurors had rejected a murder charge in March and instead found Leonardo guilty of passion-provocation manslaughter, along with weapons offenses and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The case drew attention because prosecutors said the couple’s children were inside the home during the stabbing and one child called 911. News 12 reported that the dispatcher heard the child say, “My dad is trying to stab my mom.” MyCentralJersey and Patch reported that the family’s oldest daughter later told investigators she tried to intervene before retreating with her younger sisters to wait for police. (newjersey.news12.com) ### When did the killing happen, and where? Sept. 21, 2024, is the date prosecutors said Leonardo stabbed Rodriguez in the kitchen of their apartment on Bertrand Avenue in Perth Amboy. Middlesex County authorities said police received a 911 call at about 2:57 a.m. reporting a stabbing at the residence. Officers arrived and found both Leonardo and Rodriguez on the kitchen floor, according to the county press release cited in later coverage. (newyork.news12.com) Rosana Rodriguez, 40, was taken to Hackensack Meridian Health Raritan Bay Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to local reports citing court records and prosecutors. Patch reported that a silver kitchen knife was found near Leonardo’s feet when officers entered the home. ### What did jurors convict him of? (middlesexcountynj.gov) March 2026 is when a Middlesex County jury found Leonardo guilty of passion-provocation manslaughter, two weapons offenses and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. NJ.com, Patch and News 12 each reported that jurors declined to convict him on murder and instead returned the lesser homicide verdict. (patch.com) The four child-endangerment counts reflected that the couple’s four daughters were in the home during the attack, according to trial coverage. Patch reported the children were ages 13, 11, 3 and 11 months at the time. News 12 said the endangerment counts stemmed from the children’s presence during the stabbing. ### What do the court accounts say the children witnessed? (nj.com) A 13-year-old daughter told police she woke to her mother screaming and saw her father stabbing Rodriguez in the stomach area, according to an affidavit described by Patch. Patch reported that the girl said her mother told her to call 911, and that she ran to make the call before trying to distract Leonardo by throwing a black bag at him. (patch.com) “My dad is trying to stab my mom” was the line News 12 reported from the child’s 911 call during the prosecution. Patch said the daughter later went back into her mother’s room and waited there with her younger sisters until officers arrived. ### What did prosecutors say about a motive? Trial coverage in NJ.com and Patch said prosecutors argued the stabbing came after Rodriguez told Leonardo she wanted to end their marriage. (patch.com) Those reports cited police and courtroom testimony describing the killing as occurring after Leonardo learned Rodriguez wanted to leave the relationship. (newyork.news12.com) October 2024 detention coverage from MyCentralJersey said a judge ordered Leonardo held pending trial after prosecutors argued he posed a danger to public safety. News 12 later reported that a Superior Court judge had found probable cause and denied pretrial release. ### How did the community respond after Rodriguez’s death? (nj.com) September 2024 brought a candlelight vigil for Rodriguez in Perth Amboy, according to MyCentralJersey. That report said community members gathered to remember Rodriguez, a mother of four daughters, days after the killing. MyCentralJersey reported that Rodriguez was born in the Dominican Republic, had lived in Perth Amboy for years and worked as a residential apartment inspector, citing her obituary. (mycentraljersey.com) The same report said she was survived by her daughters, parents and siblings. ### What happens next in the public record? (mycentraljersey.com) New Jersey court records remain the next place to track the case. The New Jersey courts maintain public case search and criminal judgment databases that list case information and judgments, though the judiciary says recently entered judgments may not appear immediately. July 2026 sentencing closes the trial phase reported so far, but any appeal, updated judgment entry or custody record would next surface through those New Jersey judiciary systems or subsequent court filings. (mycentraljersey.com) That is an inference based on how the state’s public court databases are described. (njcourts.gov)