Amber Alert Girls Safe, Dad Found Dead At Bear Mountain Motel

The Old Bridge, NJ, man who abducted his two daughters after allegedly being involved in the death of their mother has been found dead after apparently committing suicide at the Bear Mountain Bridge Motel on Route 9W in the Town of Highlands.

The two daughters of Anthony Trapp - 20-month-old Sophia and 5-year-old Emma - were found safe and unharmed, New York State Police said.

Trapp, 39, had ran off in his ex-wife's 2010 Nissan Rogue, along with their two young daughters, at around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. His ex-wife, Heather Trapp, had come to his Old Bridge home to pick up the children. When she didn't contract her relatives later that evening, they called police who visited Trapp's home and found Heather Trapp's body, according to the Middlsex County Prosectuors Office.

New Jersey State Police had issued an Amber Alert for the girls at around 1 a.m. on Friday.

Meanwhile, Trapp had driven to Bear Mountain Bridge Motel — a short distance north of the Rockland County line and north of the Bear Mountain Bridge — where he took a room with his daughters.

The Middlesex County (NJ) Prosecutor's Office notified New York State Police at 3:15 a.m. today that Trapp was somewhere in the Town of Highlands. Chris Thorpe, senior investigator with the New York State Police, said a phone call from the motel manager at about 4:30 a.m. alerted police that a man who fit Trapp's description was holed up in one of the motel rooms.

State troopers based in Monroe spotted the Nissan Rogue parked at the motel and troopers, along with members of the State Police crisis negotiating team and the special operations respons team, set up a perimeter around the motel. Police said that Trapp let the two girls go out the front door of their motel room at 7:30 a.m. and the children were taken to safety by troopers.

"The girls came out of the room on their own," Thorpe said.

Trapp, however, did not surrender to police. Thorpe said that police tried to establish contact with Trapp to get him to give himself up.

At around 8:40 a.m., police said, Trapp's body was found in the motel room.

Thorpe did not say if anything precipitated the police entering the motel room, or how they knew that Trapp was dead or incapacitated. Trapp was initially considered to be armed and dangerous, and was believed to have a knife.

The cause of death for Heather Trapp and Anthony Trapp has not been released pending autopsies, Jim O'Neill of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said.

The two young girls are in the custody of child protective services and have been taken to the hospital for examinations.

Thorpe said that Old Bridge Police put out a bulletin saying that the body of Heather Trapp was found in her home yesterday. An Amber Alert for the two girls was issued by NJ State Police, based on information provided by the Old Bridge Police, at 1 a.m. today. Tripp took the girls and left Old Bridge at approximately 4:30 p.m. Thursday.