Man convicted of kidnapping, killing 6-year-old girl dies in prison

4-13-17 New Jersey:

A man serving two life sentences for the kidnapping and murder of a 6-year-old girl in Manalapan in a highly-publicized case that helped spur Megan's Law registries for sex offenders has died in a state prison. Kevin Aquino, 42, died on March 11, according to the state Department of Corrections website.

Aquino pleaded guilty in July 1995 to abducting and killing 6-year-old Amanda Wengert from her Manalapan home. Wengert's parents were at an anniversary party honoring Aquinos' parents when he broke into the Wengert home and kidnapped Amanda, who was sleeping on a couch.

As he carried her through the backyard, the 6-year-old awoke and began fighting with Aquino. He knocked her unconscious, then killed her and hid the body in a wooded area 200 yards behind his home. An autopsy determined she died of a skull fracture.

Aquino had previously been convicted as a juvenile for sexually assaulting three young children, but the Wengerts were unaware of his past.

The killing and the death of 7-year-old Megan Kanka several months later in 1994 led to the legislation that established the Megan's Law registry. The Wengerts joined Megan Kanka's family in pressing for the law to register sex offenders.

Aquino would have had to serve at least 55 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

According to an email from a Department of Corrections spokesman, Aquino was found unresponsive in his cell and there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances around his death.

The Asbury Park Press reported that he was found about 20 minutes after he was last seen taking a shower. ..Source.. by Rajeev Dhir

New Jersey man gets five-year sentence in killing of Boy Scout leader he said had raped him decades ago

12-10-15 New Jersey:

A New Jersey man who admitted killing the Boy Scout leader he said had raped him decades earlier received a five-year sentence Thursday, according to reports.

Clark Fredericks, 50, will be eligible for parole in roughly nine months after getting the shortest possible state prison term for passion/provocation manslaughter and credit for time served since the 2012 stabbing, NJ Advance Media reported.

Fredericks, from Stillwater in Sussex County, pleaded guilty in June to the slaying of former Boy Scout leader and retired corrections officer Dennis Pegg, 68.

Fredericks had said in his plea statement in county Superior Court that his scout troop leader had sexually assaulted him and raped him “from the time I was 8 years old until I was 12 years old.”

“I said over and over to him 'how does it feel raping little kids now?'” Fredericks told the court about the killing. “I also repeated 'it's not so fun raping little kids now, is it?' At the end I slit his throat.”

Courtroom applauds as New Jersey man admits fatally stabbing Boy Scout leader he says molested him

6-18-15 New Jersey:

A New Jersey man admitted in court to fatally stabbing the Boy Scout leader who he says repeatedly molested him as a child — to thunderous applause in the courtroom.

Clark Fredericks pleaded guilty Wednesday in Newton, N.J., to passion provocation manslaughter in the brutal slaying of retired correction officer Dennis Pegg three years ago.

Pegg was stabbed more than 20 times in his neck, chest and stomach, authorities say.

“From the time I was 8 years old until I was 12 years old, I was sexually assaulted and raped by Dennis Pegg,” Fredericks told the court in his impassioned plea, CBS in New York reported.

“It started with him wanting to touch my scar that I had through open-heart surgery at the age of 6,” Fredericks continued. “It progressed to wrestling matches and eventually led to him raping me.”

Former Scout Leader had child porn on computer when stabbed to death by former scout, court filing says

10-23-2014 New Jersey:

A former Boy Scout troop master, allegedly killed by a former scout who claims the man molested him decades earlier, had child pornography on his computer at the time of his death, according to court testimony.

Dennis Pegg, a 68-year-old Stillwater man who was stabbed to death on June 12, 2012, had numerous photos of child pornography on his computer, prosecutors said in court this morning, according to John Vazquez.

Vazquez is an attorney for Robert Reynolds, one of the two suspects charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing.

Vazquez said that that Gregory Mueller, first assistant Sussex County Prosecutor, listed the photographs of child pornography as part of the evidence in the case.

Mueller did not comment.

Sex Offender Shot Dead by Police After 37-Hour Hostage Standoff — 2 Bodies Found in N.J. Home

Posted in Related Deaths

5-12-2013 New Jersey:

TRENTON, N.J. (TheBlaze/AP) — Police stormed a New Jersey home early Sunday and fatally shot a registered sex offender who had held his girlfriend’s three children hostage, ending a 37-hour ordeal and recovering the bodies of the girlfriend and one of her children, authorities said.

As TheBlaze reported yesterday, officers initially went to the South Trenton home Friday afternoon and found a man was barricaded inside. A relative Carmelita Stevens, 44, said she hadn’t spoken to her in weeks and was worried, authorities said at a news conference Sunday. Upon further investigation, authorities then discovered her children hadn’t been to school in 12 days.

Police entered the home through a rear door and smelled an odor consistent with that of a decomposing body, Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. said. The officers also noticed maggots throughout the residence.

They found 38-year-old Gerald “Skip” Tyrone Murphy in an upstairs bedroom and he told them he was armed with a gun and explosives and had three children with him, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. said. Officers noticed one of the dead victims before they retreated from the second floor and rescued Stevens’ 19-year-old son from the basement, who said he hadn’t seen her or his siblings since about April 24.

Homes on the surrounding block were evacuated as a precaution, and police tape cordoned off the street in front of the house. A SWAT team was called, and an arson bomb unit was also on the scene. Police said Murphy could be seen from a window holding a black handgun.