Man Convicted In 2013 Long Branch Murder Of Butcher From Ocean County

FREEHOLD, NJ — An Ocean County man has been found guilty by a Monmouth County jury of killing another Ocean County man as the latter arrived at his job in Long Branch in 2013, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Friday.

Alan Bienkowski, 57, was found guilty on all counts in the murder of Michael Wells, 56, of Point Pleasant, following a six-week trial before an all-female jury in the courtroom of Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Bienkowski was convicted of first-degree counts of murder, felony murder and armed robbery; second-degree counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and certain persons not to possess a weapon; and third-degree receiving stolen property, Webster said.

The jury also found three aggravating factors for the charges that carry a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with no parole, he said. One of those aggravating factors was based on Bienkowski’s murder conviction obtained by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office earlier this year. Bienkowski is scheduled for sentencing on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.

At trial, it was learned that Bienkowski robbed and killed Wells as Wells arrived for work at his Long Branch job on April 10, 2013, Webster said.

Wells, who worked as a butcher at Dutch Prime Foods on West Avenue, arrived at work just before 4 a.m. As he walked to the front door to open the business, he was hit in the back of the head by Bienkowski, who robbed him of cash before fleeing the area on foot, Webster said. Wells chased after Bienkowski and the pair eventually came face-to-face in the backyard of a private residence on Cleveland Avenue. Bienkowski, armed with a stolen gun, shot and killed Wells in the backyard. Wells was discovered around 7:50 a.m. by the resident of the Cleveland Avenue home, Webster said.

Bienkowski was arrested May 16, 2013, after a joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and the Long Branch Police Department tied him to the murder, Webster said.

A year later, a man who had moved into the defendant’s former Manchester Township residence discovered a gun buried in the yard, Webster said. The gun was determined to be the murder weapon, and it was found to be stolen in 2010.

Bienkowski was convicted in February 2016 in the murder of 76-year-old Anthony Verdicchio, who was Bienkowski's neighbor in the Pine Manor Acres mobile home park in Manchester. Verdicchio was found bludgeoned to death in his home on May 16, 2013, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Just over a month after the Wells murder, Bienkowski was being questioned in connection with the Verdicchio murder when authorities arrested him on an outstanding warrant from Bergen County in connection with scrap metal theft there, according to a report on NJ.com. Bienkowski was charged with Wells' murder two weeks later, according to a Patch report at the time.

Bienkowski, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for murdering Verdicchio, in May rejected a plea deal in the Wells case that would have resulted in a concurrent, 50-year sentence, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. Robert Konzelmann of Howell, Bienkowski's attorney, said he rejected the plea because he intended to prove Bienkowski was innocent, he told the Press.

Bienkowski, who turns 58 on Dec. 19, would be 90 before completing his sentence in Verdicchio's murder.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Jennifer Lipp and Matthew Bogner.

Alan Bienkowski photo via New Jersey State Department of Corrections; Jail image via Shutterstock