1690
Researchers say the earliest European settling happened here about 1690.
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FILE 341 / 1 December 2022 / 167 MIN / full
This is in northwestern New Jersey up there... This is in Morris County, area code 973... the hub of Morris County. about 0:07:01
Researchers say the earliest European settling happened here about 1690.
about 0:07:27The early settlers were Dutch and English from Long Island.
about 0:07:37Quakers from Philadelphia also settled here.
about 0:08:13Germans were among the settlers too.
about 0:08:20Researchers say the earliest European settling happened here about 1690.
about 0:07:27The early settlers were Dutch and English from Long Island.
about 0:07:37Quakers from Philadelphia also settled here.
about 0:08:13Germans were among the settlers too.
about 0:08:20William Penn and several others began taking surveys and staking out lands in the Denville area around 1715.
about 0:08:31By 1730 settlers were putting up forges and mills along the Rockaway River.
about 0:08:37The name Denville can be traced to a den of wild animals in the swampy regions along the Denbrook and Rockaway River, where the animals lay in the sun on a knoll jutting into the meadows and the local natives hunted them.
about 0:09:08That den of wild animals is the basis for the names of both Denville and Denbrook.
about 0:09:25Babe Ruth had a summer house in Denville and spent time there.
about 0:09:43The oldest Jonas brother lives in Denville.
about 0:10:0460%
Biggest faith: Catholic share, 42.8%
about 0:18:42White 81.7% · Black 2% · Asian 8.3% · Hispanic 6.6%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▼ about half
Violent crime
▼ about one third
Three-bedroom, two-bath house
about 0:21:25Three-bedroom, two-bath house in southwestern style
about 0:22:22"about half"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:25:41
"about one third"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:25:51
"16,362"
Comparison: "pretty small town". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:06
"52.5%"
Comparison: "more female". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:11
"44"
Comparison: "a little bit higher". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:14
"62%"
Comparison: "lower divorce rate, fewer single people with children". Direction: below.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:20
"81.7%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:30
"2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:30
"8.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:30
"6.6%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:30
"51.1%"
Comparison: "last election". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:28
"46.9%"
Comparison: "last election". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:28
"2.0%"
Comparison: "last election". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:28
"60%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:42
"42.8%"
Comparison: "nearly 43% of residents". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:18:42
"1.6%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:01
"$105,135 a year"
Comparison: "almost twice the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:19:46
"$128"
Comparison: "normally $100". Direction: above.
As told in 2022 about 0:20:06
"$439,600"
Comparison: "a little on the pricey side". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:20:09
"$1,926 a month"
Comparison: "compared to New York City, that is not bad". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:20:38
"$389,000"
Comparison: "about 1,500 square feet". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:21:25
"$650,000"
Comparison: "maybe 2,000 square feet". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:22:22
"$1,324,900"
Comparison: "6,411 square feet". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:23:02
"$800,000"
Comparison: "Judith's estimate in the divorce papers". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 0:50:15
"$300,000"
Comparison: "sold in 2011, a year after the murder". No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 2:32:30
"$361,500"
No direction stated.
As told in 2022 about 2:32:32
3.8 / 5 · average of 6
“A wonderful, caring community with an amazing downtown of shops and eateries, residents who support each other and many activities for young and old; it has easy access to major highways and a train station, and in truth it has it all.”about 0:10:39
“It never gets too hot or too cold, thunderstorms are never severe enough to cause damage, natural disasters typically do not happen because the town is inland, spring rain is common, summer brings scattered thunderstorms and sun showers, autumn needs jeans and long sleeves, and recent winters have had only minor snowstorms.”about 0:12:04
“People in the area were raised like the reviewer and the reviewer feels able to connect with them.”about 0:15:46
“It has a lot of character, many restaurants, family-owned stores and kid-friendly neighbourhoods, but the downside is the amount of hate, people judging others on income and wealth, and a lot of unwritten and archived crime; overall the physical parts are pleasing.”about 0:16:09
“There are many places for employment: the mall, a nearby hospital, banks and the food industry.”about 0:17:23
“Hurricanes or blizzards happen on occasion, and it is best to prepare ahead of time for flooding and to have shovels.”about 0:17:54
Denville, New Jersey, is a small township in Morris County, about 55 minutes from New York City, with a population of 16,362. Judith had taught English, French and English as a second language at Morris Catholic High School in Denville for 30 years and also worked as its librarian.
In September 2009 Judith filed for divorce. She estimated his net worth at $800,000. The divorce was contentious. He showed people photographs of the mess, said he would show them in court to humiliate her, and told a neighbour he had an intimate videotape of her that he would use if she did not give him the glass pig figurine from her collection. The settlement gave him the house but required him to pay her $110,000 for her half within 60 days, along with half of several retirement accounts. The divorce was finalised in June 2010.
A few days before the murder he used MapQuest to print directions to Washington state, where he had been in an online relationship since 2002 with a recently divorced woman named Luanne Spencer.
At 9 a.m. he borrowed a wooden chair from a friend in Denville. At 9:37 a.m. Judith telephoned a close friend from Cliffside Trail and said she had arrived to collect a few more items and this should be the last load. He said he had been going to put it on Judy's grave, but it was too pretty. Between 9:45 and 10 a.m. neighbours heard a woman scream and thought it came from the Novolino home.
At 12:39 p.m. he called Spencer again, said his wife was at his house acting crazy, and asked for her address so he could mail her cards and money.
At about 7 p.m. a neighbour, Lynn Dexter, was barbecuing when she saw Christina Novolino walking in the street in a daze and crying, saying to herself, I told her to wait for me, why didn't she wait for me. Christina had gone to the house after work to help her mother pack. She could not find her downstairs, went upstairs, and found Judith in the bathroom between the toilet and the tub. There was blood on the floor and walls. Judith had been stabbed 84 times: five wounds to the face, 11 to the neck, 19 to the right shoulder, three to each breast, four to the chest, 13 to the abdomen, 15 to the hands and seven to the back. Some wounds were eight to ten inches deep. A rubber pig mask had been laid over her face, aligned with her eyes and mouth, and it had no blood on it. Police found a large wood-handled knife and a smaller knife in a cluttered alcove under the stairs. The eight-inch knife had Judith's blood on it. The medical examiner gave the cause of death as multiple sharp force injuries and the manner as homicide.
They learned of Luanne Spencer, contacted her, and found that he had called her from the road. He bought a lottery ticket in North Platte, Nebraska, on 20 June, and stayed in a motel there. A call on 21 June was traced to Wendover, Utah, and a call on 24 June to a 7-Eleven in Puyallup, Washington. At about 6:30 p.m. on 24 June US Marshals found him naked on the bed of room 230 in a $54-a-night motel in Puyallup. He had $3,738 left of the $5,000 he had taken, cuts on his right palm, bruised and swollen knuckles and a bruise on his left armpit. Bloodstains were found in the Miata. In the room was a note: sorry for everything, but it wasn't my fault. She jabbed me first.
He was driven back to New Jersey, and on 29 June he asked to speak to Denville police captain Paul Nigro. Detectives read him his rights and recorded two statements, on 29 June and 1 July. He said Judith had a knife, that she jabbed at him, that he cut his hand taking it from her and hit her twice, but that he did not stab her 84 times and that someone else must have come in. He said the whole thing took 15 seconds. He admitted washing the knife and his hands, throwing the knife under the stairwell, throwing the pig mask into the bathroom, and driving to Washington. He denied placing the mask on her face, saying he had merely tossed it and it landed there. He also admitted sending photographs of the messy house to Judith's family to embarrass her.
The appellate court found that the pig mask was properly admitted because it showed identity, intent, motive and state of mind, and that the police had honoured his request for a lawyer and that he himself had asked to resume talking.
The house at Cliffside Trail sold in 2011 for $300,000; it was later estimated to be worth $361,500.
June 19, 2010 / her home at Cliffside Trail, Denville, New Jersey
As told in the episode, on 1 December 2022.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:35:20body found
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about 0:37:55school
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about 1:10:02home
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about 1:39:55home
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