Double killer on the docket
Kathleen Hopkins , @Khopkinsapp 5:02 a.m. EST December 12, 2016
When a 57-year-old Manchester man was sentenced earlier this year for the brutal murder of his elderly neighbor, a judge crafted the punishment to ensure the killer would still be behind bars past age 90.
It doesn’t get much worse than that.
Or does it?
Well, if you’re Alan Bienkowski, it does.
Perhaps, with good reason.
Bienkowski, who is serving a 35-year prison term for crushing his elderly neighbor’s skull with 14 blows from a hammer, isn’t finished with the criminal justice system.
Last week, Bienkowski was convicted of another murder, which he committed about a month before he smashed in 76-year-old Anthony Verdicchio’s skull during a robbery in the victim’s mobile home in Manchester.
And that means double trouble for Bienkowski.
After a jury in Monmouth County last week found Bienkowski guilty of murder and related crimes in the shooting death in Long Branch of Michael Wells, the panel had to reconvene the next day to consider whether there was an aggravating factor present that would qualify him for life in prison without the possibility of release on parole.
There was: Bienkowski’s conviction in Ocean County in February for Verdicchio’s murder.
Since he was found guilty in the Ocean County case, he turned down a plea bargain in the Wells murder case and took his chances with a jury.
At first, the defense believed the case against Bienkowski was based on speculation.
Wells, 56, of Point Pleasant Beach, was found shot to death on the morning of April 10, 2013, in a backyard nearby Dutch Prime Foods in Long Branch, where he was the wholesale food manager.
Bienkowski knew Wells because he used to work as a truck driver for a company that shared a building with Dutch Prime Foods. Supposedly, Bienkowski knew Wells carried a lot of cash on him.
He was also deep in debt and in the throes of a heroin addiction. So, prosecutors argued, Bienkowski set out to ambush Wells when he arrived at work. He robbed him, and when Wells went after him, he fatally shot him, the prosecutors said.
But Bienkowski’s attorney, Robert A. Konzelmann, said there were no eyewitnesses and no fingerprint, DNA or gunshot residue evidence.
Bienkowski might have gotten away it, had it not been for a little bird.
Sometime after both killings, a feathered friend fell out of a birdhouse on the property where Bienkowski once lived, now occupied by another family after Bienkowski was locked up for the murders. The little boy who lived there was concerned about the fallen bird, so his father bent down to find it in the dirt. What he found instead was a surprise – a gun that turned out to be the weapon used to murder Wells.
So, in the end, a man who snuffed out life with deadly weapons like guns and hammers was done in by a bird.
While the ending to the story won’t be as mysterious, Bienkowski’s case is on the docket Thursday, when he is scheduled to face Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner for sentencing in Wells’ murder.
By law, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But there still remains some suspense over one issue: whether Bienkowski will show up in court to hear his sentence; he opted not to attend the recent trial.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold.
Turn to APP.com later on and to Friday’s Asbury Park Press for full coverage.
Please note: Court events are often subject to last-minute changes and adjournments.
Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202;
Khopkins@app.com
