Suspect wanted for role in dismemberment of Toms River man arrested

TOMS RIVER — A fugitive wanted for his alleged role in the dismemberment of a local homeowner’s body has been taken into custody in Marlboro, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Tuesday night.

Jared Krysiak, 34, of Brick, was charged Saturday with hindering apprehension and desecration of human remains in connection with two killings in Toms River and Jackson on July 3, Billhimer said.

During an investigation into the June 27 fatal shooting in Manchester of Gabriella Caroleo, 25, of Seaside Heights, detectives uncovered evidence that a related murder may have occurred at a home on Ravenwood Drive in Toms River.

Maxwell Johnston, suspected of Caroleo’s murder, had made the Ravenwood Drive home his hiding place before authorities discovered his whereabouts on July 5. A violent standoff with police ensued for six hours before Johnston shot himself in the head.

Acting on information that evidence of the second murder might be found at a property on Toms River Road in Jackson, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies, including K-9 units, responded to the scene Friday and discovered “numerous body parts in black bags, as well as additional evidence related to the murder,” Billhimer said.

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That same day, investigators also searched the Ravenwood Drive home where Johnston had barricaded himself days later. They found a defaced .22-caliber handgun and other evidence proving the second murder occurred at that residence, the prosecutor said.

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During an autopsy of body parts Saturday, the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the second victim as Kerry Rollason, 56, owner of the Ravenwood Drive home. The medical examiner determined Rollason’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma. The death was ruled a homicide.

The investigation found that Johnston killed Rollason about two days before killing himself during the confrontation at Rollason’s home, Billhimer said.

Investigators determined that the gun found at Rollason’s home belonged to Elizabeth Mascarelli, 29, of Seaside Heights, who is charged with harboring a fugitive for allegedly harboring Johnston there. She surrendered to SWAT teams before the standoff ended on July 5.

As the investigation continued, detectives learned that Mascarelli and two others — Danielle Bolstad, 42, of Barnegat, and Krysiak — helped Johnston dismember Rollason’s body, and that the same trio, along with Jarred Palumbo, 36, of Manchester, helped Johnston dispose of the body parts in Jackson, the prosecutor said.

Palumbo was arrested Friday and charged with hindering arrest and desecration of human remains. He was issued a summons and released pending his next court appearance.

Bolstad, who faces the same charges, was arrested Sunday and taken to the Ocean County Jail to await a hearing to determine whether she will continue to be held pending trial.

Mascarelli, already in jail for harboring someone, was charged Monday with hindering apprehension, desecration of human remains, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a defaced firearm.

Krysiak remained at large until Tuesday. He was apprehended by detectives from the district attorney’s office’s major crimes unit and officers from the Toms River Township Police Department.

Krysiak was taken to the Ocean County Jail where he will remain pending his own detention hearing, Billhimer said.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at [email protected].