Samuel Manzie

Case details

Samuel Manzie was a 15-year-old charged as an adult in New Jersey for the killing of 11-year-old Eddie Werner.

Manzie had allegedly been involved in a sexual relationship with 43-year-old Stephen Simmons of Holbrook, N.Y. Manzie had met Simmons over the Internet, and Simmons was described as a convicted pederast.

Background

In the middle of the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 27, 1997, 11-year-old Eddie Werner left his home in the Oakley Hills development in Jackson Township, N.J. He went out alone dressed in black jeans, a black shirt and sneakers, carrying the childlike wish that he could sell enough candy and wrapping paper for his school fund-raising drive to earn a grand prize of a pair of walkie-talkies.

Between August and December of the previous year, Manzie, 15, had allegedly been involved in a sexual relationship with Simmons, 43.

Manzie had been assisting New Jersey prosecutors, with the consent of his parents, to build a criminal case against Simmons for sexual abuse. Manzie kept up phone contact with Simmons so that conversations could be taped.

Manzie’s parents later tried unsuccessfully to have him committed.

Other details

Manzie was described as having a particularly troubled adolescence. He failed to complete his freshman term at an all-boys Catholic school, and it seemed he might not have been attending school in the fall.

From age 12, Manzie reportedly grew increasingly solitary and began spending more and more time alone with his computer. He created a home page expressing passion for the band Smashing Pumpkins and expressing his wish for true friends.

Manzie made contact with Simmons during a foray into an America Online chat room aimed at homosexual men.

According to police accounts, Simmons arranged an in-person meeting with Manzie last year at a mall in Freehold Township, N.J., and the two met afterward in several motels in the state. At one point, Simmons drove Manzie to Simmons’ Long Island, N.Y., home for a weekend stay during which Simmons allegedly tried to share Manzie with his 59-year-old lover.

Manzie’s lawyer, Michael Critchley, defended the relationship and said: "They provided support, they supplied understanding. When necessary, they supplied psychiatric assistance. As much as could be done, they did."

The Manzies learned of the relationship when they noticed phone calls to Simmons on their long-distance bills. The Manzies sent Sam to a therapist and warned Simmons to stay away from their son. His therapist contacted authorities about the boy’s abuse.

The judge refused the request for commitment and called Sam "a fine young man."

Manzie’s father, Nick, said: "We are afraid of Sam."

Jackson Township Mayor Vicki Rickabaugh said: "I've always told my children not to talk to strangers or go to strangers' houses. It's every mother's cry. But how do you explain to a child that he can't talk to another child? You can't."

The Associated Press described Manzie as a disturbed loner with a history of abusing animals and small children.

The Associated Press also described that Manzie attempted to have sex with Eddie Werner before strangling him with the cord of an alarm clock.

Manzie destroyed the equipment police had installed to tape-record his telephone conversations with Simmons after his cooperation later changed.

Manzie was held in contempt after refusing to testify against Simmons. The contempt was described as a six-month contempt-of-court sentence that was later overturned.

At Manzie’s sentencing, he told the court that he pleaded guilty against his lawyers’ advice to avoid causing either family more suffering. He said:

"I feel so sorry for all the suffering I put so many people through,"
"The lives of my own family -- they have gone through so much. Even more so, there is the Werner family, Mr. and Mrs. Werner. They have lost their child."

Mrs. Manzie told reporters that she spoke with her son, now 17, for about five minutes that morning, and asked to describe his response she replied: "No reaction, really."

The offence

On Sept. 27, 1997, Eddie Werner arrived at Manzie’s home after 5:30 that Saturday afternoon to make a sales pitch as he went house to house selling various items for the PTA.

Manzie did not know Werner and then allegedly molested and strangled him. Manzie stuffed Werner’s body into a suitcase and hid it until the following day before disposing of the corpse in a wooded area that separates the Manzie and Werner neighborhoods.

Manzie was later charged with murder, robbery and aggravated sexual assault. Under a plea agreement, the aggravated assault and robbery charges were dropped, but he still faced 30 years to life in prison at the time of sentencing.

The prosecutor’s account described that on Sept. 27, 1997, Manzie lured the 11-year-old Jackson Township resident into his home, where he robbed, raped and murdered the sixth grader.

Manzie was described as strangling Werner with an alarm clock cord.

Manzie took a photograph of Werner’s lifeless body, half naked with the cord and a man’s necktie around its neck. Manzie stuffed the body into a suitcase and dragged it across the street, leaving it in the woods behind a neighbor’s house.

Werner’s body was discovered two days after his disappearance.

Investigation

Manzie had been used with the consent of his parents to build a criminal case against Simmons, with taped phone conversations.

A recording device had been installed in Manzie’s family home. Three weekends before Sept. 27, Manzie took a hammer to the recording device, destroyed the tapes and announced that he would no longer comply with the investigation.

On Sept. 24, Manzie’s parents tried unsuccessfully to have him committed.

Three days later, Manzie met Eddie Werner at Werner’s front door.

The investigation resulted in Manzie’s later cooperation and cooperation changes after destroying the equipment.

Assistant District Attorney Marc Fleidner described the process as "a standard investigation" and said: "He came to us with his parents and said we were fully on board to cooperate—that's the fact," and "Our policy is to never force a sexual-assault victim."

The lead investigator was identified as Detective Nobel, who was described as not talking.

Arrest

Stephen Simmons was arrested and held on $50,000 bail. He was charged with a class "E" felony of sodomy and held on $50,000 bail.

Trial

Jury selection in Manzie’s trial was scheduled to begin April 12. Manzie was charged as an adult. He was 15 at the time of his encounter with Eddie Werner.

On March 19, 1999, Manzie pleaded guilty to knowing and purposeful murder. In a Toms River courtroom Friday afternoon, Manzie admitted luring Eddie Werner into the bedroom of his home and strangling him with an alarm clock cord in September 1997.

Manzie described how he stuffed Werner’s body in a suitcase and deposited the suitcase in a wooded area near his home.

It was stated that the aggravated assault and robbery charges were dropped under the plea agreement.

Sentencing

Manzie was sentenced on April 14, 1999 to a 70-year prison term for first-degree murder.

During sentencing, Manzie was described as having pleaded guilty against his lawyers’ advice to avoid causing further suffering to the Werner family and his own family. He said:

Appeals

No appeal information was stated for Manzie.

Outcome

Manzie was serving a 70-year prison term for the Sept. 1997 killing of Eddie Werner, 11.

Stephen Simmons had pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact and child endangerment earlier that year and was sentenced to five years in prison despite a courtroom mercy plea by the victim. Superior Court Judge Michael Farren imposed the five-year sentence with a 2 1/2-year parole ineligibility. Simmons was described as having already served more than two years while awaiting trial.

Manzie was described as not eligible for the death penalty because he was a juvenile.

Aftermath

The parents of Eddie Werner and the parents of Sam Manzie reconciled two years after the murder. They stepped forward to say they were reconciling.

Edward G. Werner, Eddie’s father, said that Sam’s parents, Nicholas and Delores Manzie, would be dropped from a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against psychiatrists and institutions that treated Eddie Werner’s son.

The reconciliation included a meeting arranged by Rev. Thomas P. Geoffroy, a family friend and pastor of the Christian Life Fellowship Church in Jackson Township.

Manzie’s father, Nicholas, said it was a miracle and said:

"It's a miracle,"
"It's such a burden lifted. I would have turned around at any time and forgiven the Werners for things they said about us, but now Mr. Werner has done that."

At the sentencing hearing in April, after the 70-year sentence, the Werners refused to speak to the Manzies, but later reconciled.

Manzie was described as 17-year-old at the time of pleading guilty, and as serving a 70-year prison term while Stephen Simmons’ release was expected earlier.

In an Associated Press account, Edward P. Werner said about Simmons’ potential release: "He's going to intrude on other people's lives. He's going to destroy children. He's going to wreak havoc on another family."

Simmons and Manzie were also described as corresponding in prison by letter, and Simmons made statements about their relationship and about the murder.

Manzie’s statement at Simmons’ sentencing included words read aloud from a written statement. Manzie said:

"Steve, you got what you wanted, but I also got what I wanted,"
"He called Simmons "a positive adult role model who encouraged me to stay in school, get counseling, and mend my relationship with my parents."