Ex-'America's Most Wanted' Subject Admits To Fatal Stabbing In Berkeley

BERKELEY, NJ — A Berkeley man once featured on "America's Most Wanted" has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Seaside Heights man, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Angelo Grenci, 47, admitted to fatally stabbing Carlton Williams, 50, in the neck on Nov. 14, 2020 after an altercation in Manitou Park, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

At the time, Williams was flown to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, where he died from his injuries on Nov. 21, Billhimer said.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be anoxic brain injury secondary to massive bleed from a stab to the neck, and the manner of death to be homicide, Billhimer said.

On Nov. 16, 2020, authorities executed a court-authorized search warrant on Grenci's home, where he was taken into custody without incident, Billhimer said. He was initially taken to Ocean County Jail and now sits in New Jersey State Prison, serving an unrelated sentence for robbery, according to New Jersey Department of Corrections records.

Grenci, a man with an extensive criminal history, was also found in possession of more than 1,000 images of child pornography in the course of this investigation, Patch previously reported.

He also gained national attention in May 2004, when he was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" in connection with an August 2002 fight at an apartment in Berkeley Township, where he and another man were accused of aggravated assault and burglary, according to a document summarizing the case.

Grenci was arrested, but between the time of his initial indictment on the charges in June 2003 and his trial in the case at the end of July 2003, he took off for Mexico, where he lived in the shadows. Grenci's case went to trial without him and he was convicted in absentia of second-degree burglary, aggravated assault and simple assault and sentenced to 24 years in prison, 85 percent to be served without parole.

This article contains additional reporting by Patch's Josh Bakan.