Inset (left): News footage of Cole Werhan in court on June 24 (WVIT). Inset (right): Janina Brooke Murphy (Cartmell-Davis Funeral & Cremation). Background: News footage of the home in Burlington, Conn., where Murphy was found dead on March 29 (WVIT).
A Connecticut man is in custody after police say he murdered a woman he started dating through the Bumble app — but she was allegedly not his first target.
Cole Werhan, 28, was arrested and charged with murder on Tuesday, three months after the death of 26-year-old Janina Brooke Murphy.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by local NBC affiliate WVIT, Werhan called for help on March 29 after he claimed that Murphy had fallen down the stairs in his home. When police arrived, Werhan met them on the back porch and brought them to Murphy, who was under a blanket in the home's living room. She was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.
Werhan claimed to police that Murphy "started smashing her head into the wall and eventually threw herself down the stairs." The couple, who had known each other in college and recently reconnected on Bumble, purportedly had an argument after Murphy saw texts from another woman on Werhan's phone. Werhan told police that Murphy, who was listed in his phone contacts as "Wife <3," had a bipolar episode.
According to the warrant, Werhan told police that after Murphy fell, he moved her into the living room and placed a blanket over her. He then called his parents, who called 911.
Police reportedly began questioning Werhan's story when they noticed he had a swollen hand. He claimed that it may have been injured from "trying to help [Murphy] after she had fallen." Blood was found throughout the home, including in "the primary bedroom, bathroom, hallway, stairs, dining room, living room, kitchen, rear entry door, deck, and driveway," the warrant said.
Interviews with Murphy's friends indicated that her behavior had changed since she moved in with Werhan. According to the warrant, friends said she became isolated. Her mother said she stopped working and answering calls and texts from her family. One friend told police that Murphy called her via FaceTime while she was at Werhan's house and told her she had taken "a bunch of Werhan's prescription drugs."
As police investigated Werhan, they reportedly discovered a pattern of alleged abuse against other women he met on Bumble and Hinge. According to coverage of the warrant by CTInsider, Werhan was arrested on June 3 in connection with an alleged incident from summer 2025. Werhan was charged with disorderly conduct and threatening after he allegedly slapped and strangled a woman who moved in with him after they met on Hinge. The woman told police that when she was leaving his home, Werhan allegedly grabbed her, pulled her back into the house, and held her down. She told police that she snuck out of the house at 5 a.m. one morning while Werhan was still asleep.
The woman reportedly told police that "she felt like if she went back to him, she would end up dead."
The warrant outlined two other incidents that resulted in charges against Werhan. Police arrested him on April 28 in connection with another incident from December 2025, when he allegedly dumped a bottle of water over another woman's head and threw an object at her face. That woman, whom he met on Bumble, told police at the time that "she did not feel she could leave at any point because she was afraid of what [Werhan] might do."
The earliest of Werhan's three arrests happened on Nov. 20, 2025. Eighteen days after meeting a woman on Bumble, Werhan allegedly became drunk and slapped her so hard that she fell onto a bed. He reportedly forced her to show him her phone to see if she tried to call the police. The woman later told police that Werhan allegedly said, "Now you have given me something I have always wanted to do, I am going to kill you."
Werhan was charged with misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault, second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree threatening, second-degree breach of peace, and disorderly conduct.
All four cases against Werhan are still open.
During his court appearance on Wednesday, a judge ordered that Werhan be held on $5 million bond. He remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court again on June 30.
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