Mets Fan ID'd A's Cap-Wearing Murder Suspect

If  clerk Patrick McCarney wasn't a Mets fan, the man accused of might still be on the loose.

McCarney's call to police ultimately led to the arrest of Ronnie Fedo, 34, in Ambaroglu's death.

Police allege that on Saturday afternoon, Fedo stole lottery tickets from the Getty station's store, about a half-mile from the Liquor Factory, and Ambaroglu exited the store to confront Fedo. They say Ambaroglu clung to Fedo's car as Fedo drove off onto Route 15—striking and dragging the Getty owner. Ambaroglu was found in the road and pronounced dead shortly after.

Police say Fedo, a Lake Hopatcong resident, was wearing an Oakland A’s baseball cap on the day of the altercation. Such a hat is seen in Getty store surveillance from the incident.

“We served the guy at 1:35 on Saturday afternoon,” McCarney said—describing a purchase at the Liquor Factory just minutes before the Getty incident. “I noticed he was wearing the A’s hat, and since the Mets had just played the A’s, I was going to make a remark to him. For some reason, I didn’t.”

When McCarney's shift ended at 9 p.m. Saturday and he went home, he said, he saw . He said he immediately made the connection.

“As soon as I read the description, I got pretty excited. I was pretty sure I recognized the guy as the one who had been in here,” McCarney said. “I came back to the store to check our video just to be sure, then I called the cops.”

A short time later, police officials came to the Liquor Factory and asked McCarney to show them the Liquor Factory video, he said.

“They asked me if I knew him. I said I didn’t know him, but that Chris Housmann, another employee here, said he might have," McCarney said. "They called Chris, and he told them that he’d seen the guy in the Prospect Point section of Lake Hopatcong."

That account is consistent with the one given by Jefferson Township Detective Sgt. James Caruso in an affidavit regarding the investigation.  The affidavit further states that working off the information from Housmann, police canvassed the area until they found what appeared to be the SUV involved in the Getty incident. At the home where it was located, they met Fedo's mother and stepfather, who also recognized him in surveillance images shown to them by police, according to the affidavit.

It states they took Fedo from the home to police headquarters, and en route he admitted drivng off with Ambaroglu dragging along.

"The police took a copy of our film, and the next thing I know, I heard they’d made an arrest," McCarney said.

Fedo is charged with first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree aggravated manslaughter, death by auto and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said at a press conference in Morristown Sunday.

Jefferson police, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the Morris County Sheriff's Office have all been working on the continuing investigation. Anybody with information should call the Jefferson Police Department at 973-697-1300, the Morris County Sheriffs Office Crime Stopper Program at 973-COPCALL, or the Morris County Prosecutors Office at 973-285-2900.