A Montclair lawyer accused of fatally shooting the mother of his child last month confessed to the crime in a note found by a family member, according to charging documents filed by prosecutors.
In the note, James Ray III confessed to killing Angela Bledsoe, and indicated he was scared to face prison time and "the long burden of a trial," a detective with the Essex County Homicide Task Force wrote in an affidavit obtained by NJ Advance Media.
James Ray III. (Jail photo.)
Ray, 55, has been charged with murder in the death of Bledsoe, whom Montclair police found shot to death inside the couple's home at 304 N. Mountain Ave. the night of Oct. 22.
He was turned over to agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations by authorities in Cuba on Tuesday, just over a week after he was detained upon arriving in the country.
According to the affidavit, officers were sent to the house after Ray's sibling found the note inside the suitcase of the lawyer's child, whom Ray had left in the family member's care earlier that evening.
Police found Bledsoe, 44, on the kitchen floor with multiple gunshot wounds, and a handgun and gun cleaning supplies on the living room table, the affidavit says.
The handgun recovered by police, however, was of a different caliber than four shell casings and two bullets found the kitchen and the living room, the detective wrote.
The note, according to the affidavit, said Ray suspected Bledsoe had been having an affair.
It was unclear Friday whether Ray -- who remains jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility pending a hearing scheduled for Tuesday -- had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.
Note: This story has been updated to reflect that a total of four shell casings and two projectiles were allegedly recovered from the scene.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.