Remorseless Cop Admits To Killing Wife In Front Of Daughter, Gets Plea Deal


A New Jersey Police Sargent has plead guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter after shooting his ex-wife 12 times while his 7-year-old daughter was present. In June 2015, a recently divorced Philip Seidle chased down the car of his ex-wife Tamara Seidle, 51, causing her to crash in Asbury Park. He then exited his vehicle and began unloading his service revolver on the mother of his nine children. This occurred in broad daylight in a neighborhood full of witnesses and with other police officers present. Thanks to a plea deal, he will not face life in prison.

Numerous witnesses to the shooting said that Police officers, who were on the scene for an unrelated traffic incident, did not do enough to neutralize their fellow cop. They argued that any non-police officer would have been shot at the scene. Instead Seidle held the officers at bay by repeatedly holding his gun to his own temple in-between unleashing additional rounds at Tamara.

They could’ve shot him in the leg, the arm, anywhere just to get that weapon out of his hand. I think they had the opportunity to do so,” witness Robert Love told News 12 New Jersey.

Defense attorney Edward Bertucio lauded Seidle’s previous accomplishments when attempting to seek a lower bail for his client last year. Bertucio argued that before the crime, Seidle was an upstanding member of the community with no prior ‘official’ domestic violence record. The couple’s divorce complaint tells a different story than the one spun by the defense, however. Tamara Seidle claimed she had not only been assaulted, but also held at gun-point by Philip Seidle on at least one other occasion during a pregnancy. The divorce had been finalized in May.

After Seidle plead not guilty to first-degree murder charges, along with additional charges of child endangerment and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, prosecutors offered him a plea deal. Instead of facing life in prison, Seidle could be sentenced to as little as 10 years–for cold-bloodied murder. This was ostensibly to spare the couple’s children from having to testify at the murder trial, but it’s a sickening reward for a man who continued to blame his victim, even as he plead guilty to ‘recklessly’ causing her death.

The family deserves privacy and closure, but it doesn’t feel like the prosecution did enough to fight for them. There were plenty of other witnesses on the scene, including Seidle’s fellow officers. The prosecution should have found a way to protect the children, while still seeking justice for their mother.

The Seidle children are suing Manmouth County agencies which they believe aided in their mother’s murder. They allege that the various agencies allowed their father to continue to possess a weapon and serve as a police officer despite his history of domestic disputes.

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