Town file
Ocean Township, New Jersey
Ocean Township, New Jersey (Monmouth County, New Jersey) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 147, "That's Not Junk In That Trunk" (28 November 2019). Stephen Moore grew up in Southern California, the son of Evelyn, a travel agent.
- Town
- Ocean Township
- County
- Monmouth County
- State
- New Jersey
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 147
- Approximate location
- 39.791, -74.215
Episode 147 / 28 November 2019 / 155 min / full
That's Not Junk In That Trunk
""It's Ocean Township, New Jersey over here. Ocean Township. It's in East Central Jersey"; later "It's in Monmouth County, zip code 07712, area code 732"" about 0:06:46
The case: Murder of Stephen Moore (August 2010). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2019
- Population
- 27,105
- Median age
- 41 and a half
- Median household income
- about $78,000
- Median home value
- $438,700
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $2,400 a month
- Religious
- 57%
- Property crime
- ▲ about 10 percent high
- Violent crime
- ▲ about 10 percent high
History, in brief
- Henry Hudson and his crew aboard the Dutch vessel Half Moon saw land in Monmouth County off where Sandy Hook is now. about 0:13:57
- The first settlers in the area are said to include Richard and Penelope Stout; a commemorative coin shows an unconscious Penelope being carried off by a warrior. about 0:14:23
- In one version Penelope came over as Penelope Kent with her sick husband John Kent, was abandoned by the party they landed with, and was attacked by natives who killed her husband and wounded her. about 0:15:49
- Penelope hid in a hollowed-out tree until hunger forced her out; friendly natives sewed up her wounds and then sold her to the Dutch. about 0:16:39
- She was sold to Richard Stout, married him, and in the legend had seven sons and four daughters. about 0:17:29
- Another version has her arriving with children who were all killed in the attack, her being disembowelled, and her living to 110 with 502 direct descendants. about 0:17:44
- Quaker families came to the area and were followed by a group of Scottish settlers. about 0:19:44
- In 1693 the area was being partitioned into townships. about 0:20:20
- Monmouth County was named after Monmouth Shire in Wales, with the shire dropped. about 0:20:30
- The Battle of Monmouth was fought there in 1778, with George Washington's soldiers against the British under Sir Henry Clinton. about 0:21:09
- The American troops were trained by Frederick Wilhelm Ludov Gerhard Augustine von Steuben. about 0:21:33
The reviews read out
"A safe haven for rich white children who want to act like they live the lives of black kids in the projects without the crime or poverty; ironically the local police use it as an excuse for their behaviour. It has 100 thumbs up to 31 thumbs down."about 0:23:52
"The best word for the place is, in all capital letters, gay; the people are biased, everyone talks about each other, and there is a fair share of jocks, gangsters, assholes and wannabes. It has 128 thumbs up to 92 thumbs down."about 0:24:38
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Toms River Township, New Jersey14 miles
- Neptune City, New Jersey30 miles
- Ocean Grove, New Jersey31 miles
- Long Branch, New Jersey37 miles
- Berlin, New Jersey38 miles
- Fallsington, Pennsylvania42 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.