Several women described courtships that allegedly turned controlling or violent before Cole Werhan was charged in Janina Brooke Murphy’s death.
BURLINGTON, Conn. — The women lived in different places and met Cole Werhan at different times, but several gave investigators accounts with recurring elements: an intense online courtship, an invitation into a private home, a sudden shift in behavior and fear that they would not be allowed to leave.
Those allegations now form part of the background to a murder case involving Werhan’s girlfriend, Janina Brooke Murphy. Murphy, 26, was found unresponsive at Werhan’s Burlington residence on March 29. The state medical examiner ruled that she died from blunt-force trauma to the head and classified the death as a homicide. State police arrested Werhan, 28, on June 23. He is held on $5 million bail and has not been convicted of the murder charge or the allegations in his other pending Connecticut cases.
The accounts do not establish that Werhan killed Murphy, and some involve allegations that never resulted in convictions. Their legal use may be contested as the murder prosecution moves forward. They nonetheless became significant to investigators because police said they learned of several women who reported being assaulted, restrained, threatened or isolated while dating Werhan. Many said they first encountered him through Bumble or Hinge. At least some of those reports were discovered while detectives examined his phone and investigated Murphy’s death.
One of the most recent women met Werhan on Hinge and eventually moved into the Claire Hill Road house, according to an arrest warrant described by local news organizations. She told police that an argument during summer 2025 escalated into an assault. She alleged that Werhan slapped her, strangled her and pulled her back into the residence when she tried to leave. She said she escaped at about 5 a.m. while he slept and later told investigators that returning to him could have ended with her death. Werhan was arrested June 3 on charges connected to her account.
Another woman traveled about two hours to visit Werhan in December 2025 after communicating with him for months through Bumble. She said the visit was calm until an accidental touch during the third night prompted a sharp change in his demeanor. The woman told police he yelled at her, moved her phone, positioned himself near the door and poured a bottle of water over her head. She also alleged that he threw an object that struck her face. She said she tried to reduce the tension because she was far from home and believed she lacked a safe way to summon a ride.
According to the warrant in that case, the woman said Werhan repeatedly asked her to have sex after the confrontation. She told investigators she agreed because she was afraid he might hurt her or refuse to let her leave. Before her friend picked her up, she said, Werhan warned her against telling others what had happened because outside involvement could make matters “messy.” Police charged Werhan with disorderly conduct. The allegation has not been adjudicated, and the public reports reviewed do not indicate that a court has reached findings about the woman’s account.
A third Connecticut case involved a woman Werhan met on Bumble in November 2025. Police said they had known each other for less than three weeks when he became intoxicated and hit her in the face, causing her to fall onto a bed. She alleged that he demanded access to her phone to check whether she had called police and threatened to kill her. That arrest led to charges including third-degree assault, unlawful restraint, threatening, breach of peace and disorderly conduct. As with the other cases, the charges remain accusations. The accounts reviewed by police also reached back beyond the three pending Connecticut domestic violence prosecutions. A California woman said she met Werhan online and came to Connecticut in 2024. In an interview with CT Insider, she alleged that he injured her, kept her phone and prevented her from leaving the Burlington house. She said she eventually used Werhan’s phone to contact her mother and ask that police be called. Responding troopers helped her through a window, she said, and took her to a hospital and a domestic violence shelter. Court charges from that episode were later dismissed.
That woman’s case illustrates one of the difficulties investigators and prosecutors may face when presenting a history of alleged abuse. A dismissal does not prove that an accusation was false, but it also does not establish that an offense occurred. Witness availability, evidentiary rules and the outcome of each original case can affect whether past allegations are admissible in a murder trial. Connecticut prosecutors have not publicly explained which accounts, if any, they will seek to place before a jury.
Two women from Rhode Island have also been connected to the investigation through news reports and police records. One told investigators that she lived with Werhan in Providence in 2021 and that he once held a knife against her neck, according to CT Insider’s description of the murder warrant. Another woman said she dated Werhan in 2023 after meeting him on Hinge. She alleged that he choked her during an early overnight visit and later struck her in the face during an argument, breaking her nose.
The second Rhode Island woman said Werhan blocked her from leaving and threatened to kill her. She escaped into an apartment hallway, where neighbors let her inside and contacted police, she said. A no-contact order once existed in connection with the woman, according to CT Insider, but a Rhode Island clerk found no current public court record of the underlying case. The woman acknowledged that she had not cooperated fully with police at the time because she believed Werhan needed help rather than incarceration.
Years later, she said, Werhan called her unexpectedly on June 22, 2026. During the conversation, he spoke about their former relationship and mentioned that another girlfriend had died, she told CT Insider. When he avoided explaining the death, the woman searched his name while still on the call. She found reports that authorities had ruled Murphy’s death a homicide. Werhan was arrested the next day. The woman said she ended the call without revealing what she had learned and blocked him.
Murphy’s death gave investigators a new reason to reconsider the earlier allegations as a group. Police responding to Werhan’s house found Murphy with injuries to her head, face and limbs, according to the murder warrant. She also had bruises that appeared to have formed at different times. Werhan reportedly said Murphy threw herself down the stairs after an argument. Investigators said that statement appeared inconsistent with his swollen hand and the presence of blood in numerous rooms and outside areas of the home.
Friends and relatives told detectives that Murphy became less accessible after moving into the Burlington house. They said she stopped working and did not regularly answer family calls or messages. A friend also reported that Murphy said during a video call that she had taken several of Werhan’s prescription pills. Authorities have not publicly stated the full significance of that conversation. The medical examiner identified blunt-force head trauma, not an overdose, as the cause of death. Murphy was from Massachusetts and had been living in the Burlington residence during the months before her death. Her relatives called her Brooke and described her as creative, loving and loyal to her friends. Her mother said that many people regarded Murphy as their best friend. She would have turned 27 less than a week before Werhan’s arrest. Her family has said it does not want her identity reduced to the violence alleged in the criminal case.
The prosecution’s immediate concern at Werhan’s first murder-related court appearance was whether he should remain free while the case was pending. A prosecutor cited the murder allegation and Werhan’s other open domestic violence matters while describing him as a danger. Although relatives had helped him post substantial bonds after earlier arrests, the judge imposed a $5 million bond on the murder charge. He has remained in state custody.
Defense attorneys will be able to challenge the state’s evidence, question witnesses and dispute any attempt to treat separate allegations as a single pattern. The women’s accounts vary in time, location, supporting records and procedural outcome. The prosecution must still prove the specific charge involving Murphy beyond a reasonable doubt rather than asking a jury to decide the case solely on accusations made by others.
As of July 22, Werhan faces the murder case and several unresolved domestic violence prosecutions. State police have said their investigation into Murphy’s death is continuing. Authorities have not announced a trial date or publicly detailed which former partners may be called as witnesses.
Author note: Last updated July 22, 2026.