The Shooting of Maria Marshall

Greed, Corruption and Murder in New Jersey

The 1980s were a decade of wealth and excess and Toms River, New Jersey personified all of that in its forty or so miles of land. The Ocean County Mall, opened in 1976, became Toms River’s most popular recreational spot, where shopping was king. Once considered a Memorial Day through Labor Day vacation spot for New Yorkers, Philadelphians and those living in northern Jersey (greatly helped thanks to the Garden State Parkway), Toms River became somewhere the executives didn’t just get away to but chose to live. Appearance was everything, from your house and neighborhood to the car you drove and the designer clothing you wore. Anyone who was anyone belonged to the country club with its golf course and made sure to be seen there. The ultimate status symbol, however, was to be able to take frequent trips to Atlantic City, to enjoy the glitz and gambling, only forty miles down the Garden State Parkway.

Rob Marshall not only exemplified the acceptable status quo of affluence in Toms River, he reveled in it. A successful, if cutthroat and pushy, insurance salesman, he and his wife Maria had moved to Toms River in the mid 1960s, quickly joining the country club and becoming the creme de la creme of Toms River society. By 1984, an in-ground swimming pool had been added to their Crest Ridge Drive home, a time-share in a Florida condo was purchased, as well as a boat, a Cadillac for Rob, and a pricey designer wardrobe for Maria. The couple had three sons: Robert, Jr. — called Roby — Chris, and John. The two eldest boys, Roby and Chris, also had their own cars; a yellow Mustang and a Jeep, respectively. John, only thirteen in 1984, was too young to drive but Rob had already promised him a Porsche when he reached driving age.

Maria Marshall was a beautiful and elegant lady, envied by others not only for her looks (and impressive wardrobe) but for the relationship she had with her sons. Although all were teenagers and typically of the age where parents were an embarrassment and spending time with friends far outweighed evenings at home with Mom and Dad, all three of Maria’s sons were devoted to her. And with good reason. Maria was not only a loyal wife, she was a fiercely devoted mother who rallied behind her children, encouraging them on and delighted with the young men they were becoming.

The only apparent blight on the surface of the Marshall family in the summer of 1984 was Roby being suspended from…