All,
This post is somewhat personal and a little longer. I have changed names and edited the newspaper reports.
When traveling on vacation my daughters download podcasts to keep us interested and awake while driving, and the theme for this trip turned out to be murder mysteries and missing individuals. When the podcasts were not playing my mind began to wander back 40 years to an incident and my personal involvement with an individual that this subject matter is related to. While I can't give you the exact date or even the exact year, I will do my best to jog my memory and narrow it down. I unfortunately did not take photos that day or I would have been able to do just that.
In April 1975 I purchased my first Land Cruiser so the year of my incident would have been between 1976 and 1978. If it was 1978 it should have been somewhat concerning to me as you will read later. It has been 40 years so time has erased the concerns I may have had.
I believed then and still do that I most likely was the first person in my moms development to own a 4X4 that actually was used to explore the pines. However, sometime in the time frame mentioned above an International Scout 4x4 was cruising around the neighborhood. Since my friend Tom was much more in tune to the goings on in the area as he was much more of a social butterfly than I was, he informed me that it was "Billy." (I have changed the name) Billy it turns out was older than me and had lived in the development for quite a while. And Tom also informed me he had spoken with Billy in regards to me and Billy expressed his desire to to do some offroading. Sometime after this Billy and I ran into each other even though I currently don't remember how that exactly happened. In any event, I believe later that day I waited for him in the driveway to arrive. Soon we were heading to the pines with me having no idea where he was going. Our travels eventually took us to Atsion and eventually we arrived at Salter's Ditch at I believe to be this location.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.73605482422198&lng=-74.76053494613649&z=17&type=hybrid&gpx=
Now remember, this was the 70's and the road there was primitive if at all. He stopped at the ditch as I pulled up behind him and he then proceeded to plow across it. I realized then his vehicle was a beast as he crossed the ditch and the hill in seconds. I believe he purchased the vehicle "as is" because I never remember seeing it as stock. Someone had done some serious work on it. Anyway, he soon disappeared and I sat there deciding what to do. I was not a big fan of doing this but I also did not want to turn around. So I proceeded forward and soon found myself sitting in the ditch not moving. Still no sign of him at all as I hooked up my winch to try and turn my vehicle around and return the same way I came. Ten more minutes and I was just about out when he returned the same way we had come in. He obviously traveled back across the ditch at some other location and made his way back to me. I was not happy about all of this and told him our day was over. We returned home and I never spoke with him again.
On August 22, 1978 I was at home reading the newspaper when my adventure above came flooding back into my head.
Marlton man held in death
A 30 year old Marlton man was arrested Monday for the stabbing death of his 10 month old son. "Billy" of Marlton was arrested when the body of his son was found in a secluded section of Washington Township. His son was found in the trunk. Park Rangers in the early PM found "Billy" wandering along Penn_Swamp-Quaker Bridge Road in Wharton. "Billy" was rambling about leaving his son in the car. After searching the forest the vehicle was discovered and the 10 month old had been stabbed in the chest. Another article also stated that his eyes were missing.
The following day edited.
"Billy" of Marlton was transferred from the Burlington County jail to the Vroom Building for the criminally insane after being arraigned for murder. "Billy" was violent in his cell and was screaming that his son was in there with him. He was also uttering gutteral sounds and had wild rolling eyeballs. He had been seeing a psychiatrist before the crime and allegedly was going to be taken to the mental unit of a Camden hospital on the day of the murder. However, the hospital denied that.
Fast forward almost a year to 5/26/1979
A Superior Judge has ruled "Billy" was insane when the crime occurred and he was transferred to Ancora for up to 60 days so he can be evaluated. He will then return for a sanity hearing. He admitted to the crime and it was reported that he was a schizophrenic who believed his son was insane and able to pass that on to other individuals by hypnotizing them with his eyes. "Hence, the eye removal."
Two doctors testified that "Billy" said God had told him to do this, and "Billy" thought he was doing the right thing by saving the baby from a lifetime of misery in a mental institution.
In a photo from the first article he was disheveled with longer hair and beard which was not as he looked when I knew him. However, in this recent article about his arraignment it was mentioned he was looking well ... neatly dressed and alert.
According to a 1982 article, less than two years after the crime, "Billy" was released to live with his family. Anyone can have mental illness and it does not make me think any more or any less of "Billy". I was hoping that all would be well with him. Unfortunately, that would not be the way it ended.
An article from 8/8/1982.
Ex-Mental Patient killed in car crash
A Marlton man acquitted in the stabbing death of his son was killed in a vehicle crash on Route 40. "Billy" was pronounced dead Friday at the Emergency room of an Atlantic City hospital. His passenger, a 40 year old female from Florida and the female driver of a second car were hospitalized.
