OLD BRIDGE — Heather Trapp was resigned to the notion that she would eventually be killed by her husband, Anthony Trapp, after restraining orders filed against him this year were dismissed, according to her closest friends.

"She just had no faith in the law any more," said Alexis Latorraca of Red Bank. "I used to tell her, ‘You’ve got to have faith, it’s going to work out.’

"And she would say, ‘It’s not. … You’re going to see me on the news. Just watch. He’s going to kill me.’ "

Trapp, 37, was found dead Thursday night in the Old Bridge home the couple had shared until four months ago. Authorities said Friday that she had been stabbed multiple times by her husband, who then ran off with their two young daughters.

Friday morning, Anthony Trapp, 39, was located at a motel in Fort Montgomery, N.Y. After coaxing the girls out of the room, police raided it and found Trapp dead on a bed.

While they believe Trapp killed himself by nonviolent means, New York State Police did not release results of a scheduled autopsy today.

The Trapps’ two children, Emma, 5, and Sophia, 20 months, are now in the custody of Heather’s mother, Fran Newman, on Staten Island, according to lifelong friend Lorraine Gerbino.

Latorraca and Gerbino both said today Trapp felt helpless after separate restraining orders were dismissed in March and in August.

Because they were dismissed, details of the orders were not made public. A lawyer who had represented Heather Trapp declined to comment today.

But friends said that Anthony Trapp continued to verbally and psychologically abuse Heather during visits — both scheduled and unscheduled — after she filed for divorce on Aug. 23.

"Fran would tell me, ‘What has to happen? My daughter has to end up dead before they believe her?’ " Gerbino said.

ERRATIC BEHAVIOR

Latorraca, a Red Bank resident, said her husband grew up with Anthony Trapp and his brothers in Brooklyn and remained friends. But her husband, who is Sophia’s godfather, stopped having contact with Anthony Trapp this year after hearing reports of abuse.

Old Bridge death 13 Gallery: Old Bridge death

Alexis Latorraca said she saw some of Anthony’s erratic behavior firsthand. In late August, Latorraca said she went with Heather to a pediatrician appointment in Morganville when her husband showed up unexpectedly.

Latorraca said Anthony had wanted an unscheduled visit with their two children that day and when Heather told him they were going to see the doctor, he didn’t believe her.

"So he shows up, and he’s just hovering all over her in the office, acting very deranged," Latorraca recalled. "She was shaking like a leaf. He didn’t touch her, but he followed her out to her car and then followed her in her car before she went to the police."

Latorraca also said that her friend joined a therapy group for battered women, which met regularly in Monmouth County. She said she last spoke to Heather Trapp on Monday.

"She told me how much he was changing," Latorraca said.

"She said last week he was begging for her back and this week he was just so arrogant and nasty and very like, ‘You know what, you’re horrible — get out of my face.’ "

The Trapps married on Oct. 8, 2004, in Livingston. They had separated six months before she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, according to court records.

Gerbino said Fran Newman was depleting her savings in order to help her daughter with an upcoming legal battle and to finance the apartment where Heather had lived in Old Bridge.

Gerbino now says that she was unsure if Newman would have enough money to pay for her daughter's funeral. A fund for the Trapps' daughters was set up today.

"Heather feared that this would happen to her," said Debra Esposito of Red Bank, another friend.

"My goal right now is to get in touch with Gov. Christie or whoever makes these laws about restraining orders, because Heather Trapp is not going to die in vain. We’re going to make sure nothing like this happens again."

Staff writer David Giambusso contributed to this report.



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