Police say Michael Kless admitted killing Stacy Kless before officers found her dead in the couple’s Ocean Township home.
OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The murder case against Michael A. Kless began with urgent messages to others, including his adult children, before police found his wife dead inside the family’s Seward Drive home.
Authorities say Kless, 67, is charged with killing Stacy E. Kless, 66, on May 27 in the home they shared in Ocean Township. The couple had been married for nearly 40 years and were known locally as parents and grandparents. Prosecutors now say the same family ties became part of the early evidence, with the children giving investigators text messages in which their father allegedly admitted that he killed their mother.
Ocean Township police were sent to the 100 block of Seward Drive at about 9:30 a.m. after two separate 911 calls reported a murder. One caller said Michael Kless had contacted him and said he killed his wife and planned to kill himself. Another caller told police about an email admission involving the caller’s mother. Officers forced their way into the house and found Stacy Kless in the basement, where an affidavit later said a barbell was resting over her neck and throat area. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said she was obviously deceased when officers arrived. Investigators from the Major Crimes Bureau and local police then began collecting evidence from the house, phones and witnesses.
The electronic trail became a central part of the case. Investigators reviewed an email Michael Kless allegedly sent after the killing. According to the affidavit described in court records and news reports, the message said he had a long-simmering hatred of Stacy Kless, referred to a new intimate relationship with a woman from Central America and described the killing in terms that were consistent with evidence at the scene. Prosecutors also said his children provided text messages in which he admitted killing their mother. Authorities have not publicly released the full messages. At a later hearing, one excerpt read in court included an apology in which Kless said he had ruined everyone’s lives.
The messages were not the only evidence from the morning. A work crew had arrived at the home for a repair before police got there. Workers told investigators Michael Kless met them with a scratch or blood on his face, would not let them inside and asked them to come back another time. That encounter placed him at the house after the alleged killing and before police entered. Prosecutors viewed the injuries as signs Stacy Kless fought during the attack. The defense said they supported Michael Kless’ claim that she attacked him first. The brief contact with the workers is likely to remain important because it came during the narrow window between the basement incident and the emergency calls.
By the time officers were at the home, Michael Kless was no longer there. Police tracked his vehicle to the Garden State Parkway. He later contacted someone and said he was at a rest stop and was attempting to overdose on medication, according to the affidavit. New Jersey State Police found him unconscious inside the vehicle. During a court hearing, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Michael Luciano said Ambien and tequila were found in the car. Kless was hospitalized in critical condition, survived and was later transferred to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Prosecutors cited the rest stop discovery as part of the sequence after the alleged admissions.
The June 3 court hearing gave the case its first public defense theory. Deputy Public Defender Joshua Hood said Michael Kless killed his wife in self-defense after she attacked him with weights during their regular basement workout. Hood told Judge Paul Escandon that the couple’s marriage had been strained for years, even as they continued to appear together socially. He said they attended parties, talked with neighbors, traveled and cared for their grandchildren every Friday. Hood also said Stacy Kless had made threats against her husband and that he believed he had to protect himself during the confrontation. Michael Kless pleaded not guilty to the murder and weapons charges.
Prosecutors rejected the self-defense account at the detention hearing. They said the evidence showed Stacy Kless was strangled with a barbell and that the alleged admissions after the killing pointed away from an accidental or defensive act. The state also emphasized the motive described in Michael Kless’ own alleged message. Prosecutors said he referred to an 18-year wound in the marriage after Stacy Kless allegedly told him she was no longer in love with him. The affidavit also described his relationship with another woman. Hood said the woman was in Costa Rica and that Stacy Kless knew Michael Kless had started the relationship. The public record does not show that the woman had any role in the death.
The death drew public reaction in Ocean Township and nearby communities. Mayor John P. Napolitani Sr. described Stacy Epstein Kless as kind-hearted and loving after news of the killing spread. Friends and relatives scheduled a celebration of life at Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune Township on June 4, saying the gathering would honor the love, joy and light she brought into their lives. Those remembrances stood apart from the criminal filings, which focus on the evidence against her husband. Together, they show the two tracks that often follow a domestic homicide: mourning in the community and a legal case built from records, witnesses and forensic findings.
Judge Escandon ordered Michael Kless held without bail after the hearing. That order keeps him in custody while prosecutors continue the case and defense attorneys prepare challenges to the state’s account. The charges remain allegations, and Kless is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The next public steps are expected to involve further court proceedings in Monmouth County Superior Court and the state’s continued review of the evidence collected from the home, vehicle and electronic messages.
The case remains centered on the May 27 emergency calls, the basement scene, the messages sent after Stacy Kless died and the competing claims that will shape the prosecution’s next phase.
Author note: Last updated June 29, 2026.