Ex-'America's Most Wanted' Subject Sentenced For Fatal Stabbing In Berkeley

BERKELEY, NJ — A Berkeley resident once featured on "America's Most Wanted" will spend two decades in prison after fatally stabbing a man in the neck, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Angelo Grenci, 47, was sentenced to 20 years in New Jersey State Prison for aggravated manslaughter stemming from an incident in Manitou Park where he stabbed Seaside Heights resident Carlton Williams, 50, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

This sentence will be subject to the terms of the No Early Release Act, meaning that Grenci will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence before he may be considered for parole eligibility.

Police were called to Community Medical Center on Nov. 14, 2020 for reports of a man being stabbed, Billhimer said.

That man was Williams, who had a stab wound to the neck. He 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 then New Jersey State Prison, where he was already 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.