Autistic Teen Held Prisoner by Trenton Gunman Describes Captor as a "Monster"

The three-day standoff ended Sunday.

The gunman who held a family captive in Trenton has been described as a "monster" by the autistic teenage son who was locked in the basement. Jovan Stevens, 19, was kept in the basement of the home shared by his mother, Carmelita, and her boyfriend, Gerald T. Murphy, for nearly two weeks, Stevens’ cousin Sonja Kelly told nj.com. Murphy, a registered sex offender, told Stevens his mother was on vacation. According to Kelly, Murphy brought Stevens food occasionally, but mostly left him alone in the basement with two dogs. On Friday, Trenton Police conducted a wellness check on Stevens. At that time, police rescued Jovan Stevens, and a three-day standoff ensued. That standoff ended on Sunday, May 12, with Murphy being shot and killed. Police …

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Hostage Standoff in Trenton With Suspected Murderer Enters Second Day

Police say the suspect killed his girlfriend and her child.

An armed man suspected of killing his girlfriend and her child is currently barricaded in his Trenton home where police say he's holding multiple children hostages. The standoff with the unidentified man entered its second day with negotiators from the New Jersey State Police, FBI, and Trenton attempting to talk him out of the home since he drove police out Friday afternoon, according to a report from NJ.com. According to NJ.com, police officers were doing a wellness check of the suspect's South Ward home when they found a decomposing body of a woman. It's also believed that the suspect killed one of the victim's five children, according to police. The adult victim was identified as Carmen Kelly, 42, NJ.com reported. NJ.com reported that …

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Monroe Man Charged With Fatally Beating His Father

Andrew Grossman was charged Wednesday with the murder of his 65-year-old father.

A Monroe man has been charged with fatally beating his father in his home. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Chief Michael E. Lloyd of the Monroe Police Department announced Wednesday that Andrew Grossman, 37, of 32 South Rhoda St. in Monroe, was charged with the murder of Ronald Grossman, 65, after an autopsy by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s office concluded that the victim suffered head, back and neck injuries and died from blunt force trauma. Mr. Grossman was pronounced dead at 1:02 a.m. Wednesday after his body was discovered by police in the home he shared with his son. The victim’s son was charged during an investigation by Monroe Township Police Detective Sgt. Keith Saloom and Investigator Michael Daniewicz …

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DiGirolamo Appeal Denied by Appellate Court

Hightstown woman was murdered in 2007 in an apartment above what was the Slowdown Cafe.

An appellate court upheld a judge's decision on Thursday to allow two pieces of critical evidence in the trial of Rosario DiGirolamo, who pleaded guilty in January 2011 to killing his Hightstown mistress in 2007 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to a Trenton Times report. Saved Google searches for the words "martial arts lethal blows to the back of the head" that were made on June 4, 6 and 7, days before the killing, were admitted into evidence during the trial as well as a circular saw that was seized from DiGirolamo’s garage that he allegedly bought at Home Depot in East Windsor to cut up Amy Giordano's body.  Documents from the appellate court also revealed that DiGirolamo tried to kill Giordano the previous week by …

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Week in Review

Week in Review: Molto Bene Opening Soon, Route 130 to be Repaved

A review of the week's top stories.

Molto Bene to Reopen in Cranbury Molto Bene is recovering from Hurricane Irene and reopening at a new location on Main Street in Cranbury. Click here to read more.  Cranbury's CERT Team Keeping Kids Safe During Halloween To help kids stay safe while trick or treating, Cranbury’s Community Emergency Response Team handed out flashing buttons, patroled Main Street and served as a crossing guard at key intersections. Click here to read more. Route 130 South in Cranbury to be Resurfaced A four-mile stretch of Route 130 south in Cranbury will be resurfaced in Spring 2012, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Click here to read more. DiGirolamo Appeals Murder Conviction The man who pled guilty to killing his Hightstown …

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Missives from Wertime

A Journalist's-Eye View of the Giordano Case

Rosario DiGirolamo's admission in the death of Amy Giordano closed grim a chapter in Hightstown's history.

It’s been just over a week since Rosario DiGirolamo admitted in court to killing Amy Giordano, his mistress and the mother of his son, right in Giordano’s apartment in downtown Hightstown. The admission—and the ensuing guilty plea to the charge of aggravated manslaughter—cut short what had promised to be a highly publicized murder trial. DiGirolamo must serve at least 85 percent of a 25-year sentence in state prison, with 8 months already accounted for. Michael, the couple's son who was 11 months old at the time of Giordano's death, has been adopted, but officials are mum on the details. The plea deal came as a surprise to many, and the room in Trenton's Mercer County Criminal Court was relatively sparsely packed the morning of Jan. 3. …

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Lisa Shields

7:53 am on Sunday, May 22, 2011

This was one news story that I followed, with a sort of dread. From the moment Giordano's son was found abandoned in Delaware, it was clear that something awful had happened. His cool denials, the fact that he skipped the country, and the outright lies about how he has spoken to her after she vanished? Tragic. I followed because I was afraid he would actually get away with it...that somehow, he …   more ›