Krouch to Represent Blande

Sea View, NJ.

New Jersey once again owns the hottest news story in the country. A native resident of the state, Destiny Blande, remains behind bars, accused of the Satin Strangler murders. The latest breaking news on this story will turn it up another notch. Blande has selected high profile defense attorney Horace Krouch to represent her case.

Krouch touts himself as a self-made success story. He was 5 years old when his father, attorney Herbert Krouch, Esq., hung himself in their New York City apartment. His mother Victoria never recovered from the event. She was later hospitalized for undisclosed psychiatric conditions when Horace was 12, and passed away a few years later. Horace was sent to live with his cousins near Exeter, New Hampshire. He completed his undergraduate and law school studies at Yale, including a year as editor of the prestigious Yale Law Review. After graduation, he worked as a public defender in New York City before leaving to establish one of the world’s premier criminal law practices. He has accumulated an extensive winning record in high profile cases, most often representing female defendants.

Krouch became a household name after the Gloria Watson case 5 years ago. Watson, a wife and mother of two from Syracuse, New York, was accused of shooting six men during a three week killing spree. Evidence against Watson was stacked, including DNA evidence at all crime scenes, motives, numerous eye witnesses, and the coup de grace - video of her fleeing the scene of the last murder. Krouch somehow threaded together enough evidence to have Watson acquitted, creating a public conundrum reminiscent of the aftermath of the O.J. Simpson case.

Krouch, who is physically bigger than life in both stature and girth, now bears a legend to match as the most highly touted criminal defense attorney in the country. Depicted in several biographies and all but deified in Watson’s best-selling autobiography, Acquitted, Krouch now hobnobs with the rich and famous. He blogs and tweets for his “faithful followers,” serves as guest editor for numerous magazines and law journals, and regularly makes television appearances.

Last year Krouch made three cameo appearances on Law and Order. Each episode revealed whiter teeth, a darker tan, and a little less gray in Krouch’s slicked back Gordon Gecko hair. His eyebrows were even a little higher above his ever present sun glasses and moved much less in the last episode, raising speculation that the lawyer caught the plastic surgery bug. The focus on appearance has not made it down to his body, which is still as well fed as ever.

Krouch now only takes on cases of “personal interest.” During the last 5 years, he has only represented six women, each with fairly straightforward approaches to their defense. At first glance the Satin Strangler case seems a perfect fit for Krouch, with Blande facing seemingly insurmountable odds for some of the most publicized murders of our time. There is, after all, no better opportunity to stay in the spotlight. But in this case, what does he have to gain? The expectation is that he will win every time. With Destiny Blande, a loss seems inevitable. Why create a chink in the armor and tarnish a nearly perfect legal career.

Keep coming back so we can bring you the dirt on how Krouch does with this one.

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Sea View Among Safest American Towns

Sea View, NJ.

Time magazine published its 100 Safest Towns in America yesterday, and Sea View, NJ, ranked number 72.

Until recently, Sea View was best known for the Ocean Park amusement pier, which once served as a top vacation destination. That golden age ended when the pier closing and boardwalk merchant exodus created severe economic hardship for the town.

Based on similar cases, one would have expected the character of a town to deteriorate. This is not been the case in Sea View, much to the credit of their mayor of 12 years, Winston Mayfield.

Mayfield originally ran for office on a platform of cleaning up the town and creating a safe haven for its residents. As mayor he delivered on his promise. During his first few years in office, Mayfield instituted extensive neighborhood cleanup programs. He developed some the most elaborate green initiatives in the country through his Green With Pride program. Under Mayfield’s leadership, Sea View helped inspire Rutgers University’s New Jersey Sustainable State Institute and the Mayor’s Committee for a Green Future.

Sea View remains among the nation’s leading municipalities in purchasing environmentally friendly products, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycled paper, and hybrid cars. Mayfield has also supported ordinances for mandatory recycling and anti-idling, and is well known for planting trees around city buildings with the local high school every Earth Day. His sparse critics point to the negative impact the new high energy standards may have on industry and housing development incentive, but even they commend the mayor’s motives.

Mayfield has taken the concept of “neighborhood watch” to previously unseen extremes. Three years ago, following his most recent reelection, he led a fund-raising campaign to purchase surveillance camera systems for installation throughout the town. These were stationed at each traffic light, in front of the most commonly used business establishments, and on certain neighborhood blocks. Crime is down 45% during the mayor’s tenure in office, and violent crime is essentially nonexistent in Sea View, despite rising crime rates in nearly every surrounding town during the same period.

When receiving word about the Time magazine honor, Mayor Mayfield commented, “This is a testament to efforts of our citizens. We've all been committed to making this a safer and cleaner place to live. We have had some difficult economic trials here, but with the unwavering confidence and support of our citizens, we will overcome that challenge as well. Everyone here certainly deserves as much."

This award may come as a surprise in the wake of the Satin Strangler arrest in Sea View. Of course, Time made its selections prior to the arrest. Regarding the Satin Strangler case, Mayfield stated, “That was just more evidence that this is a safe place to live. She was an outsider who came through and placed our town in jeopardy. Luckily, we had a surveillance system in place to identify and apprehend her and keep our residents safe."

Other safe towns on Time magazine’s list included State College, PA, Steubenville, OH, Wheeling, WV, Pittsfield, MA, Wausau, WI, Nashua, NH, Parkensburg, WV, Glens Falls, NY, and Williamsport, PA.

That’s the dirt from the 72^nd safest town in America.

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This is post #20 in The Satin Strangler Blogs (TSSB).

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Satin Strangler Arrested

Sea View, NJ.

Police have arrested a suspect in the Satin Strangler case. Responding to a tip from a front desk clerk at the Oceanview Motel, police broke down the door of room #7 where the suspect, Destiny Blande, was staying.

Police Chief Robert McHugh reported that Blande is the person in the Sea View Marina surveillance video the night of Edgar Stahl’s disappearance. Stahl is still missing and presumed dead, the latest in a string of as many as 40 Satin Strangler victims. Police are running forensics on DNA evidence potentially linking Blande to the scene of the crime on Stahl’s boat.

“It will be a relief to all of the victims’ families,” McHugh said. “At least they can find comfort in knowing that their loved ones’ killer is behind bars.”

Blande’s Facebook profile states that she was an administrative assistant at Neon Lights, a Princeton advertising agency owned by her father, Sinclair Blande, until the spring of this year. The 23 year old alleged serial killer was born on May 1^st, 1985, in West Windsor, NJ. She grew up in nearby Mount Rose, NJ, and attended Mount Rose High School and later Rutgers University, where she earned a BA in Marketing. Friends listed on Facebook include only her father Sinclair and her sister Cheryl. Her marital status is listed as single.

Blande is an amateur photographer and an expert on Stagmomantis carolina, the Carolina praying mantis, the subject of her current Master of Science study at Rutgers University’s night school. Blande has recently been traveling the eastern seaboard studying the mating behavior of these tiny creatures. Police have placed her in the general vicinity of at least three Satin Strangler murders along the east coast.

The sleepy New Jersey beach town of Sea View is reeling from the news. Amy Beluga, a waitress at the nearby Bait and Bagel restaurant who witnessed the arrest stated, “She is not at all what I expected. She’s pretty enough, but she’s kind of quiet looking, more like an average person than a killer. There must be a lot of firepower hidden away in that little body. You can see it in her eyes. They’re green and sparkly like cat eyes.” She shuddered and then continued, “It’s scary that a killer like that was right here in our town. I had no idea, but I definitely feel safer now that she’s been arrested.”

Warren Grey, the judge assigned to the hearing on Tuesday, stated, “I need to review the details of the case before commenting. I can guarantee you, however, that she will be punished to the full extent of the law. If found guilty, of course.”

Our crew was one of the first to the scene, but reporters from across the country have been rushing to the jail in Sea View, NJ, where Blande is being held.

We will give you more dirt on this case as it unfolds over the ensuing hours and days.

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Custody in McGreevey Case

Elizabeth.

Former Governor James E. McGreevey and his estranged wife settled child custody matters on Thursday as they moved closer to dissolving their marriage. The deal for custody of their 6-year-old daughter came on the third day of negotiations, which included some closed-door testimony before state Superior Court Judge Karen M. Cassidy, who was trying to avoid a divorce trial.

The couple and their lawyers are scheduled to return to the Union County Courthouse on Monday to begin settlement talks on remaining issues, including alimony and child support. Should those succeed, the final issue would be Dina Matos McGreevey’s claim of marriage fraud.

Mr. McGreevey left the courthouse Thursday evening escorted by two uniformed sheriff’s officers. Speaking of the custody agreement for his daughter, Mr. McGreevey said, “She’ll get a large amount of time to spend with her parents.”

Lawyers for both Mr. McGreevey and his wife said they could not disclose terms of the custody agreement because it was confidential. “It was an amicable settlement,” said John N. Post, lawyer for Ms. Matos McGreevey. “The judge was very, very helpful to both sides.”

The former governor and his wife split in 2004 after he resigned in disgrace over a gay affair. They had been married for four years.

Ms. Matos McGreevey has claimed she was duped into marriage by a closeted gay man who needed the cover of a wife to advance his political career. Mr. McGreevey has contended that she should have known he was gay and that the marriage was “a contrivance on both our parts.”

McGreevey's Friday Night Specials

A former aide to James E. McGreevey said today that he had three-way sexual trysts with the former governor and his wife before he took office, challenging Dina Matos McGreevey's assertion that she was naive about her husband's sexual exploits.

The aide, Theodore Pedersen, said he and the couple even had a nickname for the weekly romps, from 1999 to 2001, that typically began with dinner at T.G.I. Friday's and ended with a threesome at McGreevey's condo in Woodbridge.

They called them "Friday Night Specials," according to Pedersen.

Pedersen said he wanted to refute the innocent image that Matos McGreevey has projected and was incensed by her portrayal as an unsuspecting wife in her book: "Silent Partner: A Memoir of My Marriage."