TOMS RIVER, NJ – Before this summer, the most gruesome, vile, and terrifying thing to ever happen in Toms River was the Amityville Horror house. Of course, that was a movie that preyed upon your worst nightmares.
Earlier this month, a real-life ‘house of terror’ was discovered on Ravenwood Drive, the scene of a bloody and gruesome dismemberment involving a gang affiliate serial killer who killed one woman days earlier and shot, killed and dismembered a man in a Toms River basement.
Along with four accomplices, Maxwell Johnston reigned terror on his victims in a nearly weeklong streak of violence that ended with him ending his own life after a lengthy police standoff.
This week, one of his accomplices was ordered to remain in jail until his trial.
During a detention hearing on Tuesday, Jared Krysiak’s defense attorney painted a harrowing picture of the scene at a Ravenwood Drive home. Krysiak, a 34-year-old Brick resident, is accused of cleaning blood from a dismemberment murder scene.
He now claims he participated in the gruesome murder to avoid becoming the next victim. He vehemently denies involvement in the dismemberment of homeowner Kerry Rollason, whose body was later found in a burn barrel in Jackson Township. Krysiak is accused of transporting the body.
He never thought of going to the police while in Jackson and alerting the authorities to what was going on in that Toms River house of horror.
According to defense attorney Danny Ljungberg, while addressing Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicarai, Krysiak was merely at the murder house to get high.
He claims he just got caught up in a terrifying situation.
His attorney described the scene as a “house of terror” and emphasized Krysiak’s fear during the incident.
During his stand-off with police, Johnston was accompanied by his girlfriend, Elizabeth Mascarelli, who lavished in the violence and debauchery going on around her. She took many photos of herself with Johnston, romanticizing the entire ordeal.
Now, she, too, is claiming she’s just another drug-addicted victim of a crazed murderer’s gruesome plot. She is also being held at the Ocean County Jail until trial.
The defense argues that Krysiak, described as a drug addict, needs treatment rather than incarceration and pleaded for his release from the Ocean County Jail.
Jared Palumbo, another participant in the gruesome incident was charged and released along with Danielle Bolstad.
