Florida man hired pair to carry out acid attack on ex-girlfriend, prosecutors say

A 49-year-old Florida man hired and paid a man and a woman to travel to New Jersey to carry out an acid attack on a woman with whom he had had a prior relationship, authorities said.

William DiBernardino, of Boynton Beach, was arrested last week in Florida, along with the pair he hired, Betty Jo Lane, 38, and Jmarr McNeil, 39, both of Jacksonville, in connection with the July 26 attack, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey said.

All three waived extradition and are jailed in Florida until they can be taken to New Jersey, the prosecutor’s office said.

They are charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, stalking and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. It was not immediately clear whether they had attorneys or where they are jailed. The Monroe Police Department did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Tom Gilbert, the acting chief of detectives for the prosecutor’s office, said the woman’s relationship with DiBernardino ended within the last year in a way authorities suspect “he was unhappy with.”

“We’re very confident he enlisted these people to carry out his wishes, and clearly they did, and that’s why all three of them are charged,” Gilbert said in a telephone interview Thursday.

The attack occurred last month, after the 42-year-old woman returned home from work in Monroe Township, in southern New Jersey, and parked in her driveway, the prosecutor’s office said. As she opened her car door, she was approached by a woman who threw a cup containing “a highly caustic acid” directly at her, according to prosecutors. She sustained chemical burns over 35% of her body and was airlifted to a burn center where she is still being treated.

The woman who threw the acid fled in a vehicle that was later determined to have been rented in Florida, prosecutors said.

Members of the Monroe Police Department and the prosecutor’s office traveled to Florida, where they were assisted in the investigation by the Boynton Beach Police Department, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Fort Pierce Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service, among other agencies.