Crime & Safety

Appeals Court Upholds Convictions of South Brunswick Man Who Murdered Parents

Court rejects appeal of Michael A. Maltese in the strangulation murders of his parents in the Monmouth Mobile Home Park.

A three-judge panel upheld the murder and manslaughter convictions of a South Brunswick man found guilty of killing his parents in 2008, according to nj.com.

Michael A. Maltese, 25, was convicted in November, 2010, for the strangulation deaths of his parents, Kathleen Maltese, 53, and Michael J. Maltese, 58, in their home at the Monmouth Mobile Home Park, before burying them in a shallow grave in Beech Woods Park on Beekman Road on Oct. 8, 2008. The couple’s bodies were discovered on Oct. 25.

Maltese was also found guilty of desecrating or disturbing human remains, hindering apprehension, and theft for his actions following the murders. 

In upholding the conviction, the judges rejected Maltese’s argument that the judge who presided over the trial "should have suppressed the defendant’s entire statement to police because it was obtained through illegal means as well as other actions by the judge Maltese believed required the verdicts to be thrown out," the report stated.

During the trial in 2010, Maltese's girlfriend, Nicole Taylor, 23, admitted to holding Mrs. Maltese while Mr. Maltese was choked to death by his son's hands following an argument. Taylor said she held Mrs. Maltese until the victim was also attacked and strangled to death by her son, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Taylor also admitted that she failed to take any preventative action to stop the married couple from being murdered.

Authorities said that Michael Maltese and his sister Leela, who was not implicated in the slayings, reported their parents missing on Oct. 17, 2008, telling police that they had not seen them since Oct. 10. The South Brunswick Police Department, the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office and New Jersey State Police Missing Person Unit subsequently began an investigation.

According to police, "probable cause was developed that defendant Maltese had provided false information to law enforcement authorities." 

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He was charged with one count of false swearing on Oct. 18, 2008, and released on his own recognizance. A further investigation determined that Maltese and Taylor stole the victims’ credit card after the murder. 

The younger Maltese and Taylor allegedly ran up a $27,000 bill on the victims’ credit cards, purchasing items including DVDs, sporting goods and an engagement ring, with purchases made at Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, EB Games and Pierre’s Restaurant and Deli, according to the Middlesex Prosecutor’s Office.

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Police said that the older Maltese was a self-employed truck driver and that his wife assisted him in his business. The younger Maltese was unemployed and Taylor worked at the Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 1.

On Oct. 23, 2008, Maltese gave a statement to police admitting to the killings before leading them to the site where his parents were buried.

Taylor, who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence, pleaded guilty to two counts of accomplice to manslaughter. Maltese must serve a minimum of 43-years of a 64-year prison sentence.


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