Biegenwald Richard - The Jersey Shore thrill killer : Richard Biegenwald

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2014 by John E. ORourke

All rights reserved

Cover images courtesy of the Library of Congress.

First published 2014

e-book edition 2014

ISBN 978.1.62584.773.7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ORourke, John, 1962

The Jersey Shore thrill killer : Richard Biegenwald / John E. ORourke.

pages cm. -- (True crime)

Summary: Explore the true story of the Jersey Shores Thrill Killer.-- Provided by publisher.

print edition ISBN 978-1-62619-287-4 (paperback)

1. Biegenwald, Richard. 2. Serial murderers--New Jersey--Biography. 3. Serial murders--New Jersey. I. Title.

HV6248.B543O76 2014

364.15232092--dc23

2014032542

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is dedicated to my wife, Ann, whom I love dearly and have spent the last twenty-five years of my life with. Id also like to express my appreciation for my two grown children, John and Joanna, who are always supportive of my endeavors.

Contents

Acknowledgements

In researching this book, the following news media were extremely helpful: the New York Daily News, the New York Times, the Asbury Park Press, NJ.Com, the Courier Post, the Associated Press, the Red Bank Register, the Bayonne Times, Wikipedia.com, the Bangor Daily News, TV 34 Freehold News, Youtube.com, the Staten Island Advance, the Victoria Advocate, the Daily Register, the Reading Eagle, the Herald-Tribune, the Express Edition, the Daily Mail Edition, the Tyrone Daily Herald, the Daily Times, the Gaveston Daily News, the Morning Herald, the Wellsville Daily Reporter, the Lubbock Evening Journal, the Milwaukee Journal, the Cumberland Evening Times, Rick Porrellos American Mafia.com, dreamindemon.com, ancestry.com, philly.com, silive.com, bayonnepd.com, murderpedia.org and tvbythenumbers.com.

Other resources used were the Bayonne Police Departments file on the Sladowski Murder, State v. Biegenwald 96 N.J. 630 (1984) 477 A.2d 318, State v. Biegenwald 106 N.J. 13, 524 A 2.d 130 (1987), State v. Biegenwald 126 N.J. 1 (1991) 594 A 2d 172 and Biegenwald v. H. Fauver LW 882.F2d 748, Ronald M. Holmess book Contemporary Perspectivies on Serial Murder, Colin Evanss book Blood On the Table and Harry Camisa and Jim Franklins book Inside Out: Fifty Years Behind the Walls of New Jerseys Trenton State Prison.

Most important to my research was the time afforded to me by the many people involved in the case. Without their cooperation and patience, this book would not have been possible. Thank you to Bayonne police chief Ralph Scianni, Bayonne police officer Ken Macc, Billy Lucia, Kevin Quinn, Mike Dowling, Bobby Miller, Ken Kennedy, Harry Camisa and Jim Franklin, Guy Spitale, Paul McNicholas and Eric Falks Photography.

Special thanks to James Fagen and Lou Diamond, who spent the most time helping me gain insight into the man one prosecuted and the other defended.

Chapter 1

Bayonne, December 18, 1958

The early morning sun glistened on the waters of the Upper New York Bay. From a distance, cars could be seen traversing the picturesque Bayonne Bridge. A bit closer, ferries were transporting people across the waterways into New York, Staten Island and New Jersey. People on all sides of the water were getting ready to begin their days. In the city of Bayonne, Christmas decorations adorned many of the shops, trees and houses throughout town; the Christmas season of 1958 was in full effect. The date was Thursday, December 18, and there were only seven more days left to shop before the holiday.

As the rising sun began to lighten the dark Bayonne streets, store owners could be seen sweeping the sidewalks, setting up decorations, putting out displays and bringing in supplies for the weekend. The spirit of the season was in the air, and Christmas tunes could be heard everywhere. The most popular of the season was the Chipmunk Song. For the first time, the animated characters Alvin, Simon and Theodore were introduced to the world. It was a time in America when the term rock-and-roll was new, sweetshops were the popular hangouts for teenagers and Gunsmoke was the number one show on TV. Sports heroes on the backs of newspapers included the likes of Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. The year 1958 was a good one in sports for the East Coast teams; in October, the New York Yankees ended the baseball season by defeating the Milwaukee Braves 62, winning the World Series for the eighteenth time. And the New York Giants were 9-3 and on their way to the playoffs.

It was an interesting year, to say the least. In January, fed up with the Ku Klux Klan and its cruel and aggressive actions, a local tribe of Indians known as the Lumbees of North Carolina attacked the KKK in an incident later to be called the Battle of Hayes Pond. In February, a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb was lost off the waters of Savannah, Georgia, and to this day it has not been recovered. In March, a U.S. B-47 accidently dropped an atomic bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina, causing a mushroom-cloud explosion. Fortunately, the core was not attached, which prevented a nuclear blast. In July, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, making Alaska the forty-ninth U.S. state. Two days later, a massive earthquake struck the state, causing a landslide that produced the largest wave ever recorded at a height of 1,740 feet. That same month, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA. Throughout the year, the United States had been active in its space program; earlier in the year, a test rocket had exploded at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In August, the United States launched Pioneer 0, and in October, operating under the name of NASA, it sent Pioneer 1 into space. In the first week of December, Pioneer 2 was deployed. And on this eighteenth day of August the worlds first communication satellite was launched. This is the president of the United States speaking, said Eisenhower. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you via a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: through this unique means, I convey to you, and all mankind, Americas wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere.

It was a year of firsts, a year of accomplishments and a year of change. But for one prominent family in the city of Bayonne, the year would be etched in their memories forever.

And on this very same day, forty-seven-year-old Stephen Sladowski woke, sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes as he stumbled out of bed. Trying not to wake his wife, Estelle, and their four childrenEstelle, nineteen; Catherine, fourteen; Stephen Jr., eleven; and Robert, ninehe prepared for his day. Closing the door quietly behind him, his face was met with the cold wind coming off the Newark Bay. It was six oclock in the morning as he walked to his grocery store just a half block away. The temperature was a brisk twenty-four degrees, and as he walked, he could see dim lights in several of the homes as people began to rise. Sladowski was off to an early start, but not any earlier than on any other day. He and Estelle owned a store at 168 Avenue B that sat on a street comprising mostly one- and two-family homes. It was a perfect location, so he presumably thought the store could serve the community; it was also conveniently a stones throw from his house at 130 West Forty-sixth Street.