A murder suspect’s hunt came to a violent end on Friday, but the prosecution still has work ahead of them. They claimed that despite being aware of the crime and his suspected role in it, a woman allowed him to remain at a house for days.
According to documents, 29-year-old Elizabeth Cheryl Mascarelli is being held without bond at a jail in Ocean County, NJ. She is accused of impeding an escapee’s attempts to get justice.
The murder victim, 25-year-old Gabriella Caroleo, was shot and killed in Manchester Township on June 27. This is where the story begins. For the homicide, Maxwell Johnston, 35, was sought for by the police. They said they followed him all the way to the east, to the Jersey Shore township of Toms River.
But this led to a standoff at a house on the 1900 block of Ravenwood Drive that lasted for about six hours. Prosecutors say that although U.S. Marshals, who took part in the standoff, were able to identify three individuals inside, Johnston—who was armed—and Mascarelli remained inside.
They claim that Mascarelli ended up in a hospital due to injuries, and that Johnston eventually committed suicide.
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“Negotiators attempted to have Johnston surrender himself peacefully; those attempts were met with negative results,” they stated. “After several hours, Mascarelli exited the residence and was transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River to be treated for injuries sustained throughout the standoff. The residence was subsequently cleared using a drone, and Johnston was located in a bedroom, deceased, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.”
How and why Johnston was at the house in the first place remained a mystery. Mascarelli, according to the prosecution, allowed him to stay at the house for four days even though she was aware of Caroleo’s murder and Johnston’s purported role in it.
There isn’t a hearing set for her case at this time.
