Chance Of Parole: Never. Manchester Man Gets Life In 2nd 2013 Murder

MANCHESTER, NJ — An Ocean County man who already was serving a lengthy sentence for bludgeoning his Manchester neighbor to death has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder and robbery of a butcher from Point Pleasant.

Alan Bienkowski , who turns 58 on Monday, Dec. 19, will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced Thursday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner to life without parole, Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, said.

Bienkowski, who was found guilty after a six-week trial before an all-female jury, was convicted on Dec. 8 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. The jury also found three aggravating factors for the charges that carry a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with No Parole.

One of those aggravating factors was based on Bienkowski’s murder conviction in the 2013 killing of Anthony Verdicchio obtained by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office earlier this year. Bienkowski

Verdicchio was killed a month after Bienkowski attacked and killed Michael Wells of Point Pleasant as Wells arrived for his workday at Dutch Prime Foods on West Avenue in Long Branch.

Wells, 56, arrived just before 4 a.m. on April 10, 2013, and as Wells 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, according to testimony at trial. Wells chased 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 home.

A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and the Long Branch Police Department resulted in Bienkowski’s arrest on May 16, 2013 for the robbery and murder of Wells.

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

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.

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