Brutal Murder, Stupid Murderer

Sandra Terranova was born in about 1976, grew up in the Paramus area of Bergen County, New Jersey, and graduated from Paramus High School in 1993. She was small, about five foot three and a hundred pounds, close to her family and traditional in her plans: she told her neighbour Chad that all she wanted was to buy a house, get married and have children. details of the account remain covered until revealed In the spring of 1997 she moved into her own apartment in Garfield, having previously lived on Palisade Avenue and, for a time, with relatives in Italy, where her family had sent her to get her away from her boyfriend.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed Their relationship was stormy and kept restarting, and Sandra's family disliked it enough to send her abroad. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now By 1997 he was also the father of a baby boy whose mother, Dana Kott, he was living with, sort of, on Route 46 West in Lodi, and he still saw Sandra Terranova.

details of the account remain covered until revealed She had told him she might be pregnant. The next day, Thursday, she did not come to work, which was unheard of, and on the Friday, payday, she did not come in for her cheque either. Her assistant manager and a co-worker called the police and told them to look at her ex-boyfriend. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

On Saturday 16 August Detective John Prehart went to Sandra's apartment, saw that her mailbox was full and climbed the fire escape to get in through a window. The flat was empty. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now First he said Sandra had gone to Wildwood and had a long history of running away; later he admitted they had been closer than he had let on, that they had broken up on 10 August, and that he had seen her at one in the morning in her car with two long-haired men. Pressed about other women, he admitted the relationship with Dana Kott and their baby. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Inside were a chainsaw, a gas can, a pickaxe, a chopping axe, two shovels and a bow saw. The following day Sandra's black 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse was found in the truck parking area of the Vince Lombardi service area on the New Jersey Turnpike, unlocked, sunroof open, keys on the passenger seat and her purse inside. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Ranieri saw a mound about a foot high and six feet long covered in dirt and sticks. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He cut another tree across the road so nobody could drive back in. They were there about an hour. this part of the story is covered for now Ranieri drew a map. Detectives could not find the road that night in the rain and fog, but the next day he showed them the way, and at about 9.55 pm they uncovered Sandra's body.

The grave was on watershed property in Jefferson Township, off Berkshire Valley Road near Route 15, about half a mile into the woods. She had been buried under about eighteen inches of dirt in a grave six feet long and two feet wide. She was clothed except for her shoes, lying on her left side, her face and eyes swollen shut and her hands clenched. A rose tattoo on her ankle gave a tentative identification. Six or seven cigarette butts lay around the site. The autopsy found mechanical asphyxia and blunt trauma to the head and face, with a fractured hyoid bone; there were bruises from before death and bruising on her feet from being dragged. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Asked whether the killing was spontaneous or an accident, he paced and eventually muttered accident. this part of the story is covered for now He said he had gone to her apartment on 14 August to talk, they had sex, he left, drove around and called her from a payphone at about seven. Call waiting interrupted them, she said it was her mother, he did not believe her, so he went back up, hit star 69, got a male voice, struggled with Sandra for the phone, ripped it from the wall and stamped on it. He threw her on the bed; her crying aroused him, he said. He bit her breast, put his hands on her throat until she turned red and stopped breathing, then threw her body on the floor. details of the account remain covered until revealed He dressed her, carried her to the car, told his friend Mike Vasseel what he had done, borrowed a shovel from Pat Gallagher's shed, came back about midnight, drove her to Jefferson Township and buried her, returned the shovel, took her furniture to his own apartment and went to sleep. He also admitted taking her car to the Vince Lombardi service area and said he had used neckties round her neck during sex in the past.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In 2009 he sued Dana Kott for contact with his son and was refused. In 2015 he filed a 57-page complaint about conditions in the ADSEG segregation unit, and later a 114-page complaint about Odinist religious practice, both of which were rejected. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Sandra is remembered among the state's domestic violence victims at an annual march and programme at the statehouse.