Housemate kills landlord with curtain rod, NJ officials say. Now, she’s prison-bound
A woman used a shower curtain rod and “several” other household items to beat her landlord and housemate to death, New Jersey prosecutors said.
Mary Carbone, 60, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter Monday, July 8, more than four years after she was accused of bludgeoning 55-year-old Frank Stochel at the home they shared in Toms River, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Carbone was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors downgraded the charge due to “legitimate proof issues” during the investigation, prosecutors said in a news release.
Officers were called to the home on Feb. 24, 2020, about an unresponsive man, according to prosecutors. They found Stochel “lifeless” on the floor, and his death was later ruled a homicide.
A health officer was investigating a complaint made earlier that day when they made the gruesome discovery, the Asbury Park Press reported, citing Ocean County prosecutor Meghan O’Neill.
“The medical examiner describes this as a prolonged period of what I think ultimately could be torture,” O’Neill told the court in 2020, according to the newspaper.
Prosecutors said Carbone used several objects in the attack on Stochel, including a wooden board, a heavy-duty tape dispenser and a shower curtain rod.
“The injuries sustained by Mr. Stochel were consistent with the implementation of these items,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
It was the shower curtain rod, covered in bloody fingerprints and hidden in a trash bag, that led to Carbone’s arrest in March 2021, NJ Advance Media reported, citing an affidavit. She’s been in jail since then.
Records showed multiple domestic violence incidents were reported at Stochel’s home the year before his death, according to the outlet.
Prosecutors said they’re seeking a 10-year sentence for Carbone at New Jersey State Prison.
She’s set to be sentenced Sept. 13, the office said.
Toms River is about a 40-mile drive southeast from Trenton.
This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Housemate kills landlord with curtain rod, NJ officials say. Now, she’s prison-bound."