Union Beach Woman Who Killed Her 2 Children By Fire Denied Parole

UNION BEACH, NJ — A Union Beach woman who killed her two children — and was granted clemency by Gov. Phil Murphy on his final day in office — asked for early release from prison, and was denied Friday by the New Jersey State Parole Board.

On his final day in office, Jan. 20, Gov. Phil Murphy granted clemency to 148 people serving prison sentences in New Jersey, among them Maria Montalvo, formerly of Union Beach.

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Montalvo is currently serving a 100-year prison sentence for killing her baby daughter and toddler son in 1994. She poured gasoline on them while they were still strapped into their car seats in her car, and the children burned to death, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago.

Santiago said earlier this year he was "in revulsion" at Murphy's decision.

Montalvo was 30 years old when she killed her two children. In 1997, she was convicted of two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder and arson. She is now 61. Because of Murphy's decision, she was made immediately eligible for parole based on good behavior in prison.

She applied for early release. Last Friday, April 17, the New Jersey State Parole Board denied her request, said a spokeswoman for the Parole Board.

She can apply again in a minimum of 18 months, the Asbury Park Press reported Friday.

In January, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said he was in "revulsion and disbelief" at Murphy's decision.

"I cannot express strongly enough our office’s collective revulsion and disbelief upon hearing this news,” Santiago told the Asbury Park Press in January, when Murphy first announced he was including her on his list of clemency pardons.

In total, during his two terms as governor of New Jersey, Murphy granted clemency to 455 prisoners. Murphy hasn't just granted more criminal pardons than any other New Jersey governor; he's granted more than every other governor in the past 30 years combined.

In January, the Monmouth County Prosecutor said this to Patch:

"We feel that we first must offer a solemn reminder of precisely why Maria Montalvo was serving a 100-year prison sentence. On Tuesday, February 22, 1994, (she) secured her daughter, 18-month-old Zoraida-Angelin Aponte, and her son, 28-month-old Rafael-Louis Aponte, in her Volkswagen Jetta. She then made a brief pit stop at a local gas station to purchase $3 of gasoline, pumped into a plastic container. She then drove to her in-laws’ home on Buttonwood Avenue in Long Branch, doused her children with the gasoline, and ignited it, killing them both."

The car burst into flames moments after she pulled into the driveway, according to a New York Times archived report. Her mother-in-law testified that she saw Montalvo throw an object towards the gasoline can.

Montalvo had argued with the children's father, her fiance, before she drove to his mother's home in Long Branch.

Santiago said the jury that heard her case at the time (1997) was deadlocked on whether she should die via lethal injection. Instead, they gave her a 100-year prison sentence, with the requirement that she serve at least 60 years before the possibility of parole. Until Murphy made his decision this year, she would not have been eligible for parole until 2054, when she was 90 years old.

So far, she's served 29 years of her prison sentence.

Woman Who Killed Her 2 Children In Monmouth Co. Granted Clemency By Outgoing Gov. Murphy (Jan. 21, 2026)

Union Beach Woman, Guilty Of Killing Her 2 Children By Fire, Seeks A New Trial (December 2025)