Stranger Danger

Warning: Most of these posts trigger warm feelings. Sea Girt’s story is generally a positive one. 1982 deals with the murder of a young woman.

Police Chief Hough Hamblet retired after 30 years on the Sea Girt Police force. He had overseen the growth of the Borough from 500-2,600 people with few major incidents. He was most proud of his treatment of young offenders. He was quoted in the Asbury Park Press. "With the cooperation of their parents," he said, "I put them to work washing police cars, cutting grass, raking leaves, and other chores.” William Joule, the senior officer on the force, was set to succeed Hamblet as Chief in October 1982. He had a more difficult time in his first months on the job.

Milk Carton kids began in the early 80s and they scared parents and kids alike.

The disappearance of Etan Patz in NY, in 1979 and Adam Walsh in Florida in 1981 triggered a wave of concern among parents. The cable news cycle was a new phenomenon, and it allowed stories to be discussed for hours. The number of missing children abducted by strangers was steady for the past ten years, about 200-300 per year, a statistically tiny number. However, divorce, family separation, and runaways spiked. This accounted for the tens of thousands of young people that the press reported as missing. “Missing Children” appeared on milk cartons, but non-family abductions were only 2-3% of all cases. Sea Girt was a quiet, very safe place to live. Kids walked or biked alone to school and the beach.

Police Departments, including Sea Girt’s, began to offer free fingerprint services. Hospitals offered the same for newborns. Generations of “free-range” children were coming to an end. The victimized parents often were vilified by the press, and the reporters focused on the rarest and most violent cases.

In the fall of 1982, Sea Girt found itself the subject of a legitimate panic.

A rash of teenage girls went missing. Maria Ciallella of Brick disappeared in November of 1981. Deborah Osbourne of Toms River April, 1982. Anna Olesiwicz of Ocean Township at the end of August while walking the Asbury Park Boardwalk. Virginia Clayton of Freehold Township disappeared in early September 1982.

And 17-year-old Betsy Bacon of Brooklyn Blvd. in Sea Girt in early November 1982.

PSA for McRuff the crime dog, warning parent and kids

Betsy and her mom went for ice cream earlier in the evening. Then, at about 11:00 at night, she walked to the 7-11 on Rt. 71 in Spring Lake Heights for cigarettes. She was never seen alive again.

Chief Joule worked with area police forces and exhausted many leads.

Each of the victims was eventually found and tied to the serial killer Richard Beigenwald. Beigenwald had killed a Bayonne prosecutor in a robbery in 1958, and his troubled life before the murder suggested serious psychological problems. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Released after 17 years, Beigenwald eventually murdered a suspected 10 people before he was captured and convicted of five first-degree murders. There appeared to be no motive, and he was called the “Thrill Killer” by the press.

Betsy’s body was found in the woods in Tinton Falls in early 1983. She had been shot and appeared to show no signs of struggle or abuse. Prosecutors tried several times to obtain the death penalty, but New Jersey had not had an execution since 1963. Beigenwald finally pled guilty to Betsy’s murder in 1993, ten years after she was discovered. Sea Girt had only one other murder case in 1913 and has not had another one since 1982. The serial killer died in prison in 2008.