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Ocean County , NJ History

Genealogy and history items from newspapers and other sources related to New Jersey, primarily the Ocean County area. You can search around 4,000 posts using the box at the top of the page

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Century 21 staff, Lakewood, 1989

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- September 11, 2026

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The Biegenwald murders

- December 08, 2014

About 25 years ago, a string of New Jersey girls were brutally murdered. This page tells the story of the monster responsible. Richard Biegenwald's childhood was a volatile one. His father was an alcoholic and, by the time Biegenwald was 5 years old, his mother could no longer control him. When police were digging up the yard of her Staten Island home, Sally Biegenwald described her son as a hyperactive child. He was prone to lighting fires in his bedroom. Once, he ignited his bed and threw himself in the fire. At the age of 5, he was institutionalized and received shock treatment. He spent most of his childhood in New York state youth detention centers. One medical report said young Biegenwald had a death fantasy and suffered from night terror. He was released when he was 15 and began high school the next year. But about six months later, he dropped out of school and drifted through the South. Over the next three years, Biegenwald had several brushes with the law. In Nashville,...

Murder in Manahawkin, 2006

- November 10, 2015

Asbury Park Press 10 Nov 2006 STAFFORD TOWNSHIP — Two sisters died minutes apart Thursday after they were shot in the driveway of their home by their mother's ex-boyfriend, who then turned the gun on himself. On most Thursday mornings, 15-year-old Jessica Veitch would be in school. But with school out for the New Jersey Education Association's convention, the Southern Regional High School sophomore was able to spend the morning with her 21-year-old sister, Melissa. The young women were shot before they were able to make it to the front steps of their Mercer Avenue home after returning at about 11:30 a.m. from a trip to a convenience store. Neighbors who heard the shots and screams called 911. "I was in the service, so I knew it wasn't firecrackers," said Thomas Niemiec, 61, who lives a few houses away from the Veitches. Police arrived to find both girls on the ground next to the car, which had its passenger-side window shattered. They were transported to Souther...

The Horrible Case of Lena Brown

- October 04, 2015

(From the New Jersey Mirror, 4 Oct 1893) A horrible tragedy was recalled when Lena Brown was brought into court yesterday to be tried for the murder of three innocent little children in September of last year. One of the children was her own five-year old son. The other two were boys aged respectively 1 1/2 and 3 years, children of William Harvey, who out of pity had taken Lena and her child off the street, where they were wandering homeless and without friends. Lena had been sheltered in Mr. Harvey's home but a short time when with his wife he visited the Inter-State Fair, at Trenton, leaving his two boys in Lena's charge for the day. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Lena suddenly became possessed of a murderous hallucination and took the lives of her own infant and her benefactor's two little boys. She then went out upon the street and meeting an officer said she wanted to be arrested and told him the story of her awful crime. He was horribly shocked at the recit...