Ex-Cop Wanted in Long Island Wife's Killing Found in Woods Upstate: Police

A former cop wanted for questioning in the death of his wife on Long Island was taken into custody after a standoff in an upstate forest, state police said. 

Paul Leitgeb, a 49-year-old former NYPD officer, was found near the Appalachian Trail in the town of Pawling by state police Tuesday evening, police said. State police had dispatched a bloodhound unit and an aviation unit to the woods after Suffolk police asked them for help locating Leitgeb, who they believed was in the area. 

Leitgeb was armed with a box cutter and threatening to hurt himself and police, and after a long standoff with troopers, he was taken into police custody. 

Police had been looking to speak with Leitgeb after finding his wife, Tricia Odierna, dead inside the Lake Grove home they shared with their five children, including twins, last Thursday.

Leitgeb was turned over to Suffolk police detectives, who were also on the scene, police said. He was taken by ambulance to Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie with self-inflicted wounds to his wrist and throat. He was then transported to a hospital in Suffolk County. 

Leitgeb has been charged with second-degree murder. He's scheduled to be arraigned when he's released from the hospital. 

The family was a fixture in the neighborhood, and Odierna was remembered for her bright smile and vibrant laugh, always surrounded by her children, according to friends and neighbors. 

Attorney information for Leitgeb was not immediately available.

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