Richard Biegenwald, known chillingly as "The New Jersey Monster", was a young man with reddish hair that he always gelled and parted to the side. He initially appeared cold and sometimes aloof, but what drew people in were his bright blue eyes contrasting with his red hair. Standing just over five and a half feet tall and weighing 143 pounds, he spoke with a heavy New York accent and always wore a detached expression.
His childhood was troubled; doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia and subjected him to a series of electroshock treatments. As he grew up, the young man developed a rebellious personality and struggled to socialize. After turning eighteen, he spent time in a federal reformatory in Ashland, Kentucky. The reason? He had dropped out of high school and then, in a "brilliant idea," stole a car. He carried out the theft in Nashville, Tennessee, but was caught transporting the vehicle in Kentucky on the way back.
A Deadly Escalation
After a year behind bars, he was released but quickly returned to crime. In November 1954, he started spending weekends in Bayonne, New Jersey. There, he met James through a mutual friend. James was the opposite of Richard, coming from a God-fearing, Catholic family that instilled in him good manners and a sense of right and wrong. Despite this contrast, James continued to hang out with Richard.
The two often frequented the streets of Port Richmond in northern Staten Island. It was 1958 when Richard confessed to James that he wanted to do something he had never done before. Neither of them knew that this "thing" would change their lives forever.
Richard stole another car on Staten Island, drove to Bayonne, New Jersey, with James, and attempted to rob a grocery store. Inside was Stephen Sladowski, the owner preparing to close, and his business partner, Leo Bergman. As Sladowski bent down to tidy items, Richard entered, hiding a sawed-off shotgun under his raincoat. James sat nervously in the getaway car.
Richard had committed thefts before, like stealing cars and burglarizing houses. But he knew this was an escalation. The adrenaline was pumping, and he felt excited. Sladowski stood up, surprised to see the man holding a shotgun. However, Sladowski was a criminal prosecutor and was not easily intimidated, staring Richard down. The shotgun was loaded with buckshot, and Richard was determined to use it. "I couldn't miss the target from a meter away," he later said. The shot was deafening, and Sladowski fell, mortally wounded. Richard quickly grabbed the bleeding man's wallet.
The Manhunt
"Let's get out of here!" Richard shouted as he jumped into the back seat. Panicked, James sped away, swerving into the opposite lane. Richard lowered the window and fired another shot, shattering the store's window. A young man named Donald McLaughlin and his friends heard the shots and saw a man fleeing. McLaughlin managed to memorize the license plate: New York, RD-757.
Richard and James abandoned the car near Zabriskie Avenue and First Street and walked to the ferry, heading for Staten Island to find safety. The police found the abandoned car around 3:00 AM and began searching Staten Island.
A few days later, Richard and James, who had stolen another car, were driving in Salisbury, Maryland. Police recognized the two wanted men and pursued them. Richard slowly pulled over, placed the shotgun in his lap, and waited. As an officer approached the car, knowing the occupants were wanted for murder, a shotgun blast ripped through the night. The officer was grazed in the face and collapsed. He managed to raise the alarm. About an hour later, another patrol engaged in a shootout with Richard. Both Richard and one of the police officers were wounded, and the long flight of the two young men ended in the hospital.
Prison and Parole
Richard was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in New Jersey, while James received 15 years. Richard served seventeen years before being granted parole in 1975. The prison environment was harsh, and Richard was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement with food rationing. He was given four slices of bread and two glasses of water three times a day, but he claimed this was nothing compared to the electroshock treatments he had endured.
He was released under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, sixteen years and four presidents later.
Back on the streets, he did odd jobs and started a relationship with a neighbor of his mother. She was an exceptional student, and her parents were shocked when she announced her engagement to Biegenwald, an ex-convict with facial scars. Richard soon had problems again: he failed to report to his parole officer from mid-1977 and was suspected of rape. He was arrested in Brooklyn in June 1980 but married his girlfriend in jail. The rape charges were dropped, but he served another six months for a parole violation.
Upon his release, he moved with his wife to an old apartment building in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and found work as a maintenance man. One of their neighbors was Dherran Fitzgerald, a career criminal he had met in prison.
The New Jersey Monster Strikes Again
On January 4, 1983, the body of eighteen-year-old Anna Olesiewicz was found behind a restaurant in Ocean Township, north of Asbury Park. She had been shot four times in the head. Anna was last seen alive over the Labor Day weekend in 1982. She had the misfortune of encountering Richard Biegenwald that evening. He likely noticed her alone, approached her with his non-threatening demeanor and penetrating blue eyes, invited her home, and she accepted.
After the news broke, a friend of Richard's wife called the police, naming him as a suspect. The woman claimed to have driven Biegenwald to the boardwalk several times to search for victims. Once, Richard had allegedly shown her a young woman's body hidden in his garage and given her one of the victim's rings. Detectives Fagen and Lucia gathered information on Richard Biegenwald and Dherran Fitzgerald, checking their criminal profiles. Richard's record showed he had killed someone in cold blood in 1958 and served a long sentence, along with the attempted rape and parole violation arrests.
The Arrest and the Horrors Revealed
In the early hours of the night, detectives executed a raid on the four-unit apartment building where Richard and Fitzgerald lived. The two were arrested without a shot fired. Both apartments were filthy and dimly lit. Investigators were stunned by the amount of weaponry found: homemade bombs were everywhere, some resting on the mantelpiece like ornaments. Lighters converted into .22 caliber weapons were found, one of which exploded when an officer tried to light a cigarette. A loaded semi-automatic Mack 10 rifle was in Biegenwald's room.
In the middle of Richard's living room was a large hole leading to the basement. The basement was an eerie space used as an impromptu lab for assembling pipe bombs and silenced guns. The .22 caliber pistol that killed Anna Olesiewicz was found next to Fitzgerald's bed, but the ammunition was in the basement bedroom where Richard Biegenwald had slept.
With enough evidence to secure convictions, Fitzgerald's lawyer offered the state a deal: his client would provide information about other victims in exchange for avoiding a murder charge. Fitzgerald claimed he was not involved in the murders but had helped Richard Biegenwald dispose of several bodies.
Fitzgerald explained that he and Richard had met in Rahway State Prison in 1966. He recalled Biegenwald once showing him a woman's body in the garage, claiming she was killed "for business reasons". Fitzgerald helped him bury the victim at Richard's mother's house in Staten Island and accidentally discovered a second dead woman while digging the grave.
Following Fitzgerald's directions, police unearthed the remains of Maria Ciallella, last seen in October 1981. Her body was cut into three pieces and buried in the yard of a dilapidated house in Charleston, Staten Island. The shallow grave also held the remains of another girl, 18-year-old Deborah Osborne, who had disappeared the previous April.
The bodies multiplied: Fitzgerald led agents to the grave of 18-year-old Betsy Bacon, who had been shot twice in the head. As the investigation progressed, Richard Biegenwald was also charged with the murder of escaped convict William Ward, who was shot five times in the head and buried outside Neptune City, New Jersey. Biegenwald was suspected, but never charged, in two other murders: that of former inmate John Petrone, and Virginia Clayton, who was abducted and killed on September 8, 1982.
Richard Biegenwald was indicted by New Jersey authorities on five counts of first-degree murder. Dherran Fitzgerald was convicted of aiding and abetting and concealment of a corpse. Thanks to his cooperation, he received a five-year sentence for each crime.
After his conviction for the murder of Anna Olesiewicz, Biegenwald was sentenced to death by lethal injection. The sentence was converted to life imprisonment when the state's Supreme Court abolished the death penalty. Richard Biegenwald died on March 10, 2008, at the age of 67, due to respiratory failure caused by kidney insufficiency.