The 26-year-old Reinhardt was charged with murder Saturday, roughly two days after police said he stabbed his landlady to death in the living room of her house at 477 Jersey Ave.
The victim was identified as 58-year-old Ardis Alaqarbeh, a nurse who lived alone and tried to evict Reinhardt for not paying his rent.
Reinhardt had lived in the apartment for about four months, neighbors said.
An autopsy revealed blunt trauma, evidence of strangulation and several knife wounds to Alaqarbeh's upper body.
Warwick police Lt. Thomas Maslanka said it's likely that Reinhardt hit and tried to choke the woman before he grabbed a knife from inside her house and plunged it into her torso.
"It was a very brutal homicide," Maslanka said.
Alaqarbeh's body was discovered about 7:40 p.m. Friday. A friend who couldn't get in touch with Alaqarbeh became suspicious and found the woman dead, police said.
Reinhardt emerged immediately as a suspect, and police spent the better part of Friday night and Saturday morning scouring his apartment at the house, which sits across the street from Greenwood Lake.
Police ultimately caught a lucky break: When they typed Reinhardt's name into Orange County's records management system, they discovered he was under police custody in the Town of Wallkill.
Reinhardt was sitting handcuffed in Wallkill's police station for allegedly stealing CDs from the Walmart on Route 211.
"After we picked him up, he made some statements that alluded to his involvement (in the homicide)," Maslanka said.
The few details that are known about Reinhardt color him as a troubled man. Neighbors said that Reinhardt attended alcohol counseling and struggled with drug addiction.
Kevin Cotter, whose home sits on a ledge just above Reinhardt's apartment, said Reinhardt came to his house the night before Christmas declaring that he'd "fallen off the wagon."
"I offered him $100 to buy presents for his kid, but he said he needed money to get high," Cotter said.
Police said Reinhardt's life had also taken a turn for the worse recently because his wife left him.
Reinhardt was arraigned late Saturday night and sent to Orange County Jail without bail.
abosch@th-record.com