Man sought in Teaneck attack arrested after car chase that ends in crash in Franklin Lakes

A 51-year-old Hackensack man was arrested on Wednesday after a high-speed car chase that ended with a crash in Franklin Lakes, and he was charged with trying to kill a Teaneck woman by hitting her on the head a hammer on Saturday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.

Molinelli said Mark Hunt faced numerous charges, including attempted murder in the bludgeoning of Delphinia Howard, in her home on Irvington Road in Teaneck shortly after midnight on Saturday.

The prosecutor said Hunt and Howard were in “a dating relationship, and during a verbal dispute at the house Hunt turned violent and struck the victim numerous times in the head with a hammer.”

When policed arrived at the scene they found the critically injured Howard bleeding from the head and the bloody hammer nearby. She was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center with multiple skull fractures, Molinelli said.
Molinelli said that after Hunt beat Howard, he stole money from her home and fled in her car. Initial attempts to find Hunt were unsuccessful, and the car was entered into the stolen-vehicle database, the prosecutor said.

On Wednesday morning, however, a police officer in Maywood spotted the car on Beech Street and tried to stop it. It fled at high speed, with police in pursuit, Molinelli said.
The chase continued through Paramus, onto Route 4 west and ultimately Route 208, Molinelli said, adding that officers from several other agencies joined the pursuit, which ended when Hunt lost control of the car and crashed into a tree at the entrance ramp onto Route 208 at Ewing Avenue in Franklin Lakes.