A Peace Officer Met His Girlfriend Through a Medieval Re-Enactment Group. Then, He Killed Her After She Threatened to Tell His Wife.

A 53-year-old man was a law enforcement officer until he bludgeoned his mistress to death. Now, he must spend decades looking at the inside of a prison.

Luis Rondon was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for killing 32-year-old Deborah Waldinger inside her New Jersey apartment in October 2019, according to Mid-Hudson News. A jury previously convicted Rondon of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Rondon was a peace officer and sergeant with the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

Rondon knew Waldinger through their association with a medieval re-enactment group, according to the Times Herald-Record. Rondon hit Waldinger in the head with a hammer multiple times to kill her.

Prosecutors said Rondon killed Waldinger after she threatened to tell his wife about their relationship, according to the Times Herald-Record. The state claimed that Rondon was not only afraid of losing his wife, but rather his house and pension with the bridge and tunnel authority.

"This was a particularly brutal murder that was made even more horrific by the fact that the victim was killed in her own home,” Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said after Rondon’s conviction, according to the Times Herald-Record. "It is always disturbing when someone whose job is to promote public safety commits acts of senseless violence."

After the murder, Rondon fled to California, where he was arrested.

Hoover credited the police who investigated the case, according to Mid-Hudson News.

“It’s always disturbing when someone whose job is to promote public safety commits acts of senseless violence,” Hoovler said, and the Mid-Hudson News reported. “In my opinion this defendant deserves an even higher sentence than the maximum sentence that the law allows.”