Grim Tales from the Garden State

James Henry Hampton led a life of crime from a very early age. From reform school to jail cells, Hampton wreaked havoc across the midwest and pacific northwest. That was until August 1992 when he was all but encouraged to rob a woman and her fiancee in Missouri. He then proceeded to flee to Wantage, New Jersey and claim another life.

In 1949, Howard Unruh was a shy, quiet World War II veteran who had a serious chip on his shoulder. His insecurities, social awkwardness, and fear of being outed for his sexuality all coalesced into a violent walk down River Road in East Camden. Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com Instagram: grimtalesgs Sources: https://weirdnj.com/stories/howard-unruh/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sto...

Kashif Parvaiz and Antoinette Stephen were architecture students at Harvard in 2011. When their illicit affair begins, the two must devise a way to free Kashif from his wife's arms and allow him to truly be with Antoinette, but that won't be without some bloodshed.

In August of 2007, Danny Burroughs disappeared from his Mays Landing home without a trace. His second wife, Loretta Burroughs, claimed that he ran off with a much younger woman to Florida, but no one could comfortably believe that story.

Dede Rosenthal was a teacher for disabled children, and Rebecca Wertz was a loving mother. In 1991 and 1995 across two counties in South Jersey, these two women lost their lives at the hands of Charles Reddish, a shady maintenance man who had random compulsions to kill innocents.

John List was a devoted Lutheran, accountant, husband and father living in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1971, he decided to take the morality and trajectory of his family into his own hands and become one of the most prolific fugitives in American criminal justice history.

Carl Coppolino and his wife, Carmela, lived in affluent Middletown in the 1960s with their children. After an obvious affair and the sudden death of a neighbor, the Coppolinos move down to Florida, where another tragedy strikes with much different results. Instagram: grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

Patricia Monsell was a wife and co-owner of a ski shop in Green Book, New Jersey. In 2004, she and her two children found her husband, James, dead in their bedroom. As the story unravels, the Monsell family secrets come to light.

Mary Frances Creighton was a hot-headed housewife from Rahway, Union County. She always had something mean to say about someone, and had no problem wiping her enemies off the face of this earth. Instagram: @grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

Philip Seidle was a respected police officer and father in Neptune Township. He had a big house, big family, but also big problems with his wife, Tamara. In June of 2015, everything would change for the Seidle family after a divorce pushes Philip over the edge.

Dr. Kathleen Hagen was successful in her career as a urologist, even shattering the glass ceiling at the time for female medical students. But after a series of failed marriages, business ventures, and mental health crises, her critical parents ended up being the victims of one of her psychotic episodes. Instagram: grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

Khalil Wheeler-Weaver was a nerdy teenager hailing from Orange, New Jersey. By fall 2016, his silver BMW would become one of his trademarks as he trolled around Essex County assaulting and killing enough women to categorize him as a certified serial killer. Instagram: grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

Cody MacPherson was a 20-year-old father from Burlington County. He worked in construction to provide for his daughter back in Indiana. In 2017, Cody began a new relationship with a fellow young parent who lived nearby. Sadly, this girl involved Cody in a toxic romantic web from which he never escaped. Instagram: grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

Tara Carter was an 18-year-old Paterson native who was on the brink of starting her new career as a hairstylist in Georgia. In 1995, her close family friends welcomed her into their home as she transitioned between locations, but that decision would unveil a morally corrupt fraud scheme that had been running for years. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grimtalesgs/ Business email: grimtalesgs@g...

Sean Lannon was a military veteran and a South Jersey native. After being relocated to Grants, New Mexico because of his job at an oil refinery, Sean and his wife Jennifer would spiral into a life of drug abuse, violence, and sheer chaos. Sean would rampage across state lines until he exacted revenge on a selection of self-proclaimed enemies. Instagram: grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmai...

Hitman, professional criminal, father. Richard Kuklinski, also known as the Iceman, terrorized North Jersey and New York City for nearly 40 years with various devious acts and overt carnage. Although it seemed like the Iceman was virtually unstoppable, a series of missteps ended up culminating in his capture. Instagram: @grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalegs@gmail.com

Tina Lunney was just your regular wife, mother, and financial planner. When she and her husband, Chris, purchased their home in Fairfield, they let Tina’s mother, Marie, move in with them. When frequent trips to Atlantic City threaten the financial stability of the Lunney family, Tina resorts to drastic measures to keep their bills paid. Instagram: @grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.co...

Clark Fredericks was a Stillwater Township man down on his luck and actively being consumed by his demons and trauma. In 2012 when an old friend offered to help Clark get back at someone who wronged him, the trajectory of Clark’s life was altered forever, and surprisingly, for the better.

Fred Neulander was a respected rabbi in the upscale South Jersey town of Cherry Hill. He had prestige, a prized family, and a lot of connections. But when Fred tried to switch up his life and incur no repercussions, the facade crumbled.

Melanie McGuire was a beloved nurse, wife, and mother in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. In 2004, she and her husband, Bill, were about to close on a new house in Warren County. However, that house would never be inhabited by the McGuire family because Melanie decided to trade in her nurse scrubs for a prison jumpsuit. Instagram: @grimtalesgs Business email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com

In 1984, a revered insurance broker named Robert O. Marshall had a posh and privileged life in Toms River, New Jersey. With a big house, successful career, beautiful wife, and three sons, Robert was living the dream…or so everyone thought. Robert had a very different definition to what his “perfect life” should be, and he was willing to pay for it. Instagram: @grimtalesgs Business email: grimtales...

Civil rights activist Assata Shakur was a brave, combative trailblazer that never backed down from a fight. From robbing banks to protesting the lack of diversity in her college, Shakur made herself well known to both the NYPD and the FBI. Unfortunately, after a messy run-in with the cops on the turnpike near East Brunswick, New Jersey in the 1970s, Shakur would achieve one of the highest statuses...

Heather Reynolds seemed to have a comfortable life in Sicklerville, New Jersey as a social worker, wife, and mother of three. Unfortunately, in spring of 2018, she very quickly became a mother of two due to her deft problem solving skills. Instagram: @grimtalesgsBusiness email: grimtalesgs@gmail.com