Colts Neck Man Sentenced For LBI Murder

COLTS NECK, NJ — Conrad R. Sipa, of Colts Neck, was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday for the 2015 murder of a retired FDNY lieutenant in Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island.

He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before consideration for parole eligibility. As Sipa is currently 56 years old, Friday's sentencing makes it likely but not guaranteed that the Colts Neck resident will be imprisoned the rest of his life.

A jury found Sipa guilty April 4 of murdering Richard P. Doody, Jr.

The murder occurred three and a half years ago: On Nov. 21, 2015, Doody was beaten to death and his throat was slashed at his vacation home on Central Avenue home in Barnegat Light. He was beaten with a lamp and struck so hard with a golf club that the graphite neck of the club split, and his neck was severed "so severely that his trachea was cut through and through," Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Meghan O'Neill said.

The two men were longtime friends, and Doody had been the best man at Sipa's wedding, the Asbury Park Press reported. They met through a deep-water scuba diving club. Evidence showed that Sipa stopped for a bottle of scotch, two twelve-packs of beer and cigarettes on his way down to LBI to visit his friend that November evening.

It remains unknown what the two argued about. Sipa originally claimed self-defense in the trial, with his lawyer arguing that Doody drank much of the alcohol that night, became enraged and then attacked him.

The jury deliberated for about two hours following the two-week trial before finding Sipa guilty of first-degree murder. They also determined Sipa employed deadly weaponry, specifically a knife and a lamp, in the murder.

Doody lived in Staten Island and had a 29-year career with the FDNY. He spent several weeks at Ground Zero, working on "the pile."

Prosecutor's said Sipa's fingerprints were found in blood at the home. In the days after the murder, Sipa returned to Doody's Central Avenue raised ranch several times to clean up the murder scene, prosecutors said. Doody's body was found inside the home two days later, on Nov. 23, after his wife, back in Staten Island, called police to say that she hadn't heard from her husband in a few days, NJ.com reported.

Sipa worked as an occupational therapist.