Upper Township woman's fiance wanted in her 2023 killing

Emily Cruddas was excited about her future.

Days after celebrating her 21st birthday, the Upper Township woman wrote on a TikTok post about the man she was to marry in less than a month.

“I’m so excited to have you by my side through thick and thin,” read the Jan. 18, 2023, post that included a photo array of her and Joseph Ragan, and a picture of four positive pregnancy tests. “We are having a baby!! I love you sooo much baby…”

About three weeks later, Cruddas was found dead of what at first appeared to be a drug overdose.

But an investigation found it was homicide.

Ragan is now wanted as an accomplice in her killing. Her sister is jailed on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

    The couple appears happy in a photo that was part of her last TikTok post.
  

Sarah Errickson incapacitated her half-sister with Xanax, and then injected her with heroin Feb. 16, 2023, as Ragan held his hand over the victim’s mouth, he told investigators 17 days after Cruddas’ death, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

But it would take nearly two years until charges were filed.

James Cruddas got the message when he woke up early Jan. 24 of this year, and saw he had a missed call, just two days after what would have been his only daughter’s 23rd birthday.

“I was elated,” he told BreakingAC. “Thank God. Finally we can get maybe an end to this thing.”

He immediately called his sister.

Barbara Merrifield screamed so loud when she got the call at 3:10 in the morning, she woke her whole house up, she recalled.

“She was not only my niece, she was like a daughter to me,” the Somers Point woman said of Emily.

She knew her beloved “Little Emmy” did not take drugs. 

“I have been talking to the detectives the whole time, ever since it happened,” Merrifield said. “We were just waiting for them to prove it.”

James Cruddas, who lives in Florida, said Ragan called him a few times after Emily died.

“He practically told me what all three of them did,” Cruddas said.

The third person has not been charged, but spoke to detectives accompanied by an attorney just a day before Errickson and Ragan were charged, BreakingAC confirmed.  

BreakingAC is not naming him since he has not been charged at this time.

The unnamed man was engaged to Errickson at one time, according to an online wedding registry.

The plan to kill Emily Cruddas was made while she was in the hospital, the affidavit claims. 

She was struggling after suffering a miscarriage, her family said.

Errickson, who has a different father than her sister, had been jealous of her younger sister and how close she was with their mother, who died in 2020, shortly before Emily’s 18th birthday.

The sisters were left to share their mother’s Upper Township home.

Errickson would claim her sister tried to take the home, and was the reason she lost her children for a time. 

Not long before her death, Emily alleged her sister tied her up and threatened her, her father and aunt said. But no criminal charges were ever filed.

    James Cruddas shared photos of him with he daughter, Emily, over the years.
  

James Cruddas said Ragan claimed he feared for his own life the night of Emily’s death.

But Ragan also said he waited seven hours for Emily to die, during which he was alone with her for a time.

“How could he do that to somebody that he supposedly loved?” Merrifield asked.

“It’s very disturbing knowing my daughter probably suffered for seven hours, probably scared out of her mind,” Cruddas said. “It’s like torture. They tortured her. They’re nothing but animals.”

Cruddas and Merrifield say they are glad Errickson is jailed, and hope she stays there.

A detention hearing is set for Monday in Cape May County Superior Court.

Ragan remains a fugitive.

@emilycruddas2

We are getting married in less then a month, I’m so excited to be have you by myside thought thick and thin and we are having a baby!! I love you sooo much baby.. ❤️❤️

♬ Infinite Love - Sara Evans & Todd Chrisley