A recently disclosed court document revealed shocking information about a series of crimes that culminated in a standoff at a New Jersey home earlier this month, including the fact that one of the women involved photographed a man’s mutilated corpse.
Elizabeth C. Mascarelli, 29, was charged on July 13 with obstructing apprehension and destruction of human remains, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Mascarelli allegedly assisted Maxwell Johnston, 35, in hiding for several days inside her Toms River, New Jersey, house after Johnson murdered his girlfriend, Gabriella Caroleo, 25.
Mascarelli was detained on July 5 after a police confrontation with three suspected accomplices: Danielle Bolstad, 42, Jared Krysiak, 34, and Jarred Palumbo, 36. According to officials, Johnston committed suicide before being taken into custody.
While investigating Caroleo’s killing, officials uncovered the remains of another person in a nearby residence in Jackson: 56-year-old Kerry Rollason, who owned the house Johnson was hiding in. Rollason’s body had been dissected and placed in bags.
According to the recently published arrest affidavit, a forensic investigation of Mascarelli’s phone turned up photos of her and Johnston next to a “clearly deceased” Rollason, whose legs had been amputated. According to the complaint, the photo shows Mascarelli clutching a hatchet in the body’s chest.
Additional photographs uncovered during the search show Mascarelli, Johnston, and Bolstad in a forest. According to the affidavit, Johnston is shown with a huge ax and an “active” burn barrel behind him. An unidentifiable item with potential bloodstains may be observed sticking from the barrel.
According to the affidavit, Palumbo told officers that on July 3, he was in the basement of Rollason’s home with Krysiak when he heard three gunshots from outside. Shortly after, Johnston entered the basement and informed the two that they must leave the residence immediately.
According to the affidavit, Palumbo discovered Rollason’s body after exiting the basement. Krysiak, Palumbo, Bolstad, Mascarelli, and Johnston allegedly fled the house, only to return shortly after to care for the body.
According to the affidavit, Palumbo claimed that Johnston, Mascarelli, and Krysiaki severed Rollason’s limbs and then instructed him to bring “several bags” up from the basement and place them into Bolstad’s car.
The medical examiner stated that Rollason’s body was dissected into eight separate pieces, according to the affidavit. He died from several gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma.
Bolstad went to the vicinity of a house in Jackson, New Jersey, on the day Rollason was killed, according to phone data referenced in the affidavit. According to the affidavit, authorities searching the house discovered a burn barrel near the property as well as gloves similar to those worn by Mascarelli and Johnston in the images. The barrel was stained with human blood and contained a knife.
According to the affidavit, a search of the area turned up several body parts in black bags wrapped in blankets, as well as multiple 9mm rounds, a saw, and the hatchet Mascarelli was shown wielding in the images.
During a hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors stated that Johnston was a member of the Bloods street gang, but did not provide a particular reason for her suspected role in Rollason’s death. Mascarelli’s public counsel argued she had a history of addiction and was terrified of Johnson, while Bolstad’s attorney stated she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.