Top 15 Most-Read Stories Of 2025 In Woodbridge

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — We've come to the end of the year, and Patch thought our readers would like to know the biggest stories of 2025 in every Patch town we cover.

We rounded up the top 15 highest-read stories of 2025 in Woodbridge. In order of how many page views they received, they are:

1. Woodbridge Police Officer Killed In Off-Duty Crash Dec. 10, 2025 This was hands-down the most widely read story in Woodbridge this year, as the community was stunned and saddened by the untimely death of Woodbridge Police Officer Michael Tenpenny in early December. Tenpenny, 31, was killed when his pick-up truck collided with a tractor trailer on Peter J. Sica Industrial Highway in Carteret. It was 10 p.m. on a Tuesday and Tenpenny was not on duty at the time. The crash remains under investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor. Tenpenny was a lifelong resident in Woodbridge, having grown up in town and graduated from JFK Memorial High School, where he was a standout on the football field. At the time of his death, he had been on the Woodbridge Police Dept. for seven years.

2. Student Brought Gun To Woodbridge High School March 18, 2025 Every parent's worst nightmare came true on March 18, when a 17-year-old boy brought a loaded handgun to Woodbridge High School. The teen boy had been involved in a dispute with another teen, and he sent him threatening text messages the night before. The student who received the threats told teachers first thing the next day. Woodbridge High School administrators and school security staff searched the student's items and found the loaded firearm. The boy was arrested by Woodbridge Police inside the high school at 8:07 a.m. Related: Woodbridge Installs High School Metal Detectors After Teen Brought Loaded Gun To School (March 25) The teen had already made it inside the school building with the loaded gun. This promoted the Woodbridge school district to install metal detectors at the entrances of all three high schools. The district was already planning to do this in 2026, but the March 18 incident prompted the district to do it a year earlier, said superintendent Joe Massimino. The metal detectors were "immediately deployed" this spring. All students, staff and visitors must walk through them to enter the three Woodbridge high schools.

3. Woodbridge Trader Joe's On Rt. 1 Announces Opening Date Oct. 24, 2025 There is not much to say about this story, except that the community was extremely excited to see a Trader Joe's move into the former Bed, Bath & Beyond location on Rt. 1, which had been vacant for the past several years. The Trader Joe's opened in late October.

4. More Come Forward With Concerns Over 'Cancer Cluster' In Colonia Feb. 18, 2025 An NJ.com report in February reopened the fears of many about a possible cancer cluster at Colonia High School. A Colonia High grad located approximately 122 cases of people with cancer or brain tumors who either worked at or attended Colonia High School from 1975-1999. WoodbridgeTwp. and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection previously tested around the high school and found no evidence of radon or radiation.

5. Woodbridge Teen Tests Positive For Tuberculosis March 20, 2025 A student at Colonia High School tested positive for TB, which is a contagious lung infection that most Americans are vaccinated against. This prompted contact tracing by the Woodbridge Health Department to ensure the infection hadn't spread. The student responded well to treatment.

6. Woodbridge Teen Killed After Dispute That Started On TikTok June 18, 2025 Chrystofer Whyte, 18, a recent Woodbridge High School graduate, was fatally gunned down on the beach in Long Branch by two other teenage boys also from Woodbridge. The teens all attended Woodbridge High School together. Whyte was a standout on the Barrons football team, and also on the varsity wrestling team. After high school graduation, he found some brief fame as a TikTok influencer (Whyte's TikTok page, hi.imchrys, had 98,000 followers, and his photos and videos received 7.7 million likes). The murder stemmed from a feud that started on TikTok: Other teen boys were antagonizing Whyte in the comments section, and a dispute broke out. Police say Dwayne Exilus, 18, of Woodbridge and another teen under 18 obtained a gun, followed Whyte to the beach in Long Branch and fatally shot Whyte as he sat on the sand. Tragically, Whyte had posted to his account earlier that day that he would be in Long Branch. This was the shooting that caused a mass panic and stampede at Pier Village as gunshots rang out on the crowded beach. Related: 2 Woodbridge Teens Charged In Fatal Shooting On The Beach At Pier Village June 30, 2025

Exilus had been arrested before in connection with a previous shooting in March of this year at the Linden Applebee's.

7. Woman Fatally Stabbed In Woodbridge, Man Charged Nov. 3, 2025 Marianne Straley, 63, was stabbed to death by her live-in boyfriend Roosevelt Oglesby, 63, said police. The couple lived in Iselin. Straley was remembered in her obituary as a beloved mother of three adult children, plus a grandmother, sister and aunt.

8. Man Fatally Shot By Woodbridge Police Sgt. Outside Convenience Store May 29, 2025 Woodbridge Police Sergeant Marco Bruno fired his service weapon outside a convenience store on Port Reading Avenue after he had an encounter with Aamir Allen, 35, of Carteret, who was holding a baseball bat, said the NJ Attorney General. The single shot killed Allen. This was after midnight. Shortly before this happened, at 1 a.m. that same night, Woodbridge Police were called to a home on East Tappen Street in the Port Reading section for a 911 call reporting a domestic dispute involving Allen. Allen left and walked to the convenience store. That's where he had the encounter with Sgt. Bruno. The incident remains under investigation by the Attorney General.

9. ICE Does Raid At Woodbridge Work Site Oct. 29, 2025 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers combed the Savino Del Bene warehouse on Englehard Avenue and 30 to 50 workers were taken, including several women who have children they were supposed to pick up after school. Video from the scene showed people handcuffed being loaded into ICE vans.

10. State Will Revoke Wild Animal Permits At Woodbridge Mall SeaQuest (Feb. 7, 2025) After threatening to do it for years, the state of New Jersey finally shut down SeaQuest at the Woodbridge Center Mall in February, when it took away all their permits to have wild animals on site and ordered them to "immediately cease allowing public interactions with all wildlife." SeaQuest Holdings, LLC is in bankruptcy and SeaQuest still owes the mall $381,000 in unpaid rent, Patch exclusively reported last December. The space that used to be used by SeaQuest is now occupied by a new business called Woodbridge Aquarium & Wildlife, which also encourages children to touch and interact with animals.

Runners up:

11. Woodbridge Woman, 34, Killed In Carteret Car Crash Jan. 12, 2025 Cristina Flores 34, of Avenel, was killed in a car accident on the West Carteret Bridge on Roosevelt Avenue at 9:55 p.m. on a Saturday. The driver of the other car, Jair Montero-Moran, 23, of Carteret was charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter and second-degree vehicular homicide for her death. He was driving drunk and speeding at 69 miles per hour over the bridge when the two cars collided head on, said the prosecutor. The speed limit on the bridge is 25 MPH.

12. Carteret Man Charged With Attempted Murder Of Newborn Son Jan. 24, 2025 The six-week-old infant suffered critical face and head injuries, but survived.

13. More Than 500 Teens Descend On Woodbridge Mall, Shut Down Carnival May 27, 2025 Word of the meet-up spread on TikTok and Instagram. Videos posted to TikTok and other social media platforms showed teens running through the mall screaming and jumping on top of furniture. The carnival had to shut down early due to fights breaking out among teenagers in line waiting to get in, said police.

14. Here's Who Else Is Coming To Cloverleaf Shopping Center In Woodbridge Aug. 21, 2025 People are excited to see what's going there.

15. Prison Guard Accused Of Sexually Assaulting 2 Male Inmates At Avenel Prison For Sex Offenders Dec. 19, 2025 Corrections officer Anthony Nelson, 37, a Piscataway resident, was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.