Frank Masini

Case record — Frank Masini

Background

Frank Masini emigrated from Italy when he was 17. He lived with his wife and two adult children. He was a self-employed carpenter. He had no history of drug or alcohol abuse and no prior criminal history.

In the months before one of the homicides, Masini claimed that he experienced "detachments from reality," for which he sought no treatment.

Masini had a burglary conviction in 1966 that prohibited him from owning firearms.

The offence

Masini was accused of killing elderly people he had known for years and was suspected of killing additional elderly people linked to his carpentry work.

Killings involving stab wounds and sexual assaults

Masini was alleged to have repeatedly stabbed victims in the neck and to have sexually assaulted each female victim.

Masini was charged in Ocean County with stabbing Angelina Ialeggio of Lavallette, a distant relative by marriage. A stolen ring belonging to Mrs. Ialeggio was found in Mr. Masini's home.

Masini was also suspected in the Thanksgiving Day killings of a West Orange couple:

• Michael Krieger, 83
• Betty Krieger, 78

The fourth victim was Anna Masini, 85, a cousin who lived in Orange, where Masini had a workshop. She was found dead on Nov. 27, 1991, the day before Thanksgiving.

Alleged method and evidence at the time

The authorities described the Kriegers as "security-minded" and unlikely to admit strangers to their home, a possible sign they knew the attacker.

With the exception of the stolen ring, there was no evidence offered to suggest a similar motive for each of the slayings.

The attacks were described as similar, involving elderly victims, stab wounds and sexual assaults on each female victim. Masini had apparently done cabinet work for the Kriegers over the last 12 years. He had also apparently done carpentry at the home of each victim.

An impression of a shoe belonging to Mr. Masini was said to match that of a print found outside the Krieger home.

Specific account of one killing

Masini stopped at his eighty-five-year-old aunt's home purportedly to use her telephone. While washing out a soda glass in the kitchen sink, he saw a knife. He repeatedly stabbed his aunt in the neck, killing her. He also vaginally and anally raped her.

Specific account of another killing

Two weeks after killing his aunt, Masini was at the home of an eighty-year-old relative. After talking with her in the kitchen, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter, grabbed the victim from behind, repeatedly stabbed her in the neck, sexually assaulted her, and stole her ring. The victim died from the stab wounds.

Investigation

Law-enforcement officials accused a 48-year-old carpenter from Livingston, N.J., of killing an 80-year-old relative last December and suspected him of killing three other elderly people he had known for years.

The police in West Orange said there were no signs of forced entry and that the apartment had not been ransacked; the other crime scenes were similar.

Authorities said the Kriegers were "security-minded" and unlikely to admit strangers to their home.

Arrest

Frank Masini was arrested Tuesday and charged in Ocean County with stabbing Angelina Ialeggio of Lavallette, a distant relative by marriage. Ialeggio was found in Mr. Masini's home.

Trial

Gun-charge hearing and bail

At the hearing on the gun charge, an assistant Essex County prosecutor, Norman Menz, asked Judge Joseph A. Falcone to set bail at $1 million because of evidence that appeared to link Masini to the other killings.

Mr. Menz said Masini was suspected in the Thanksgiving Day killings of Michael Krieger, 83, and his wife, Betty, 78.

Mr. Menz said Masini had done cabinet work for the Kriegers over the last 12 years.

Mr. Menz said the attacks were similar, involving elderly victims, stab wounds and sexual assaults on each female victim.

Mr. Menz said Masini had apparently done carpentry at the home of each victim.

Mr. Menz told the court that an impression of a shoe belonging to Masini matched a print found outside the Krieger home.

Mr. Biebelberg argued that without formal charges, there was no reason to invoke such high bail.

Bail was set at $50,000, and Masini was held at the Essex County Jail.

The prosecutor's office declined to say when or whether it intended to file homicide charges against Masini in the three Essex County killings.

Guilty pleas and life sentences

Masini pled guilty to murder involving his eighty-five-year-old aunt and received a life sentence with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility.

Masini pled guilty to another murder and received another life sentence and thirty-year parole bar, which ran concurrently to the sentence he received for killing his aunt and to the consecutive life sentences he received for murdering an elderly couple.

Sentencing

Masini was sentenced to:

• two consecutive life terms, each with thirty years' parole ineligibility; and
• two concurrent terms of life with thirty years' parole ineligibility.

The sentencing occurred on April 30, 1993.

The AOC coded as present the c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony) aggravating factor and the c(5)(d) (diminished capacity) and c(5)(h) (catch-all) mitigating factors.

Masini was described as having no other factors around those four homicides that suggested an explanation for the prosecutorial decision to proceed non-capitally.

Outcome

Masini received two consecutive life terms and two concurrent terms of life, each with specified thirty-year parole ineligibility terms as part of sentencing.

Timeline

• Nov. 27, 1991 — Anna Masini, 85, was found dead, the day before Thanksgiving.
• April 30, 1993 — Masini was sentenced to two consecutive life terms (each with thirty years' parole ineligibility) and two concurrent life terms (each with thirty years' parole ineligibility).

Other details

Masini was charged separately in Essex County with illegal possession of .25-caliber and .35-caliber handguns that were found in his home.

He was also charged with receiving stolen property, the ring.

At the hearing in connection with the gun charge, Judge Peter J. Giovine of Superior Court in Toms River ordered Masini held in $1 million bail.