Seaside Heights Woman Indicted for Murder, Dismembering Body in ‘House of Horrors’ Case

Elizabeth Mascarelli (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

A grand jury sitting in Ocean County has handed up an indictment against a Seaside Heights woman for her role in the shocking murder of a local woman in July.

Elizabeth Mascarelli, 29, of Seaside Heights, will face charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of Kerry Rollason, 56, of Toms River. The grand jury also returned an indictment on weapons charges related to a .22 caliber semi-automatic handgun, a separate 9mm handgun, and a hatchet. She was also charged with possessing a weapon while being barred from doing so, possessing a defaced weapon, hindering apprehension and desecration of human remains.

The complex series of events that led to the charges against Mascarelli and multiple other local residents – detailed below – began July 3, 2024 and played out for days.

---

Get Daily Island News Updates Your email address:* Please enter all required fields Correct invalid entries

According to prosecutors, on July 5, local detectives and U.S. Marshals located Maxwell Johnston, 35, of Manchester Township, at a residence on Ravenwood Drive in Toms River, who was wanted in connection with the murder of Gabriella Caroleo, 25, of Seaside Heights, which occurred in Manchester Township on June 27, 2024. Upon their arrival at the residence, the Marshals successfully called out three of the occupants, later identified as Danielle Bolstad, 42, of Barnegat, Jared Krysiak, 34, of Brick, and Jared Palumbo, 36, of Manchester, and Maxwell Johnston, 35, of Manchester. Johnston and Mascarelli remained in the residence, however, and it was learned that Johnston was armed.

Negotiators unsuccessfully attempted to have Johnston surrender himself peacefully. After several hours, Mascarelli was the first to exit the residence and was transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River to be treated for injuries sustained throughout the standoff. The residence was subsequently cleared using a drone, and Johnston was located in a bedroom – deceased – with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. Pursuant to a court-authorized search warrant, detectives discovered a defaced .22 caliber handgun and a 9mm handgun in the residence.

Prosecutors allege that Mascarelli had allowed Johnston to stay at the Toms River residence with her for four days, despite her knowledge of the murder of Caroleo and Johnston’s alleged involvement in it. As such, Mascarelli was charged with harboring a fugitive from justice and served with the charge on a complaint at the hospital. Mascarelli was later transported to the Ocean County Jail, where she has been lodged pending trial.

Detectives later “discovered evidence that a murder may have been committed at the Ravenwood Drive residence on or about July 3, 2024,” prosecutors said in a statement. To that end, they allege, law enforcement came into possession of information indicating that evidence of that murder might be found at a property in Jackson Township. On July 12, 2024, investigators executed a search warrant on a property along Toms River Road in Jackson Township. As a result, they discovered numerous body parts in black bags along with additional evidence connected to the murder, including a hatchet.

The following day, the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a postmortem examination of the body parts, and was able to identify the victim as the owner of the Ravenwood Drive residence, Rollason. The medical examiner concluded that the cause of Rollason’s death was multiple gunshot wounds in addition to blunt force trauma, and the manner of death to be homicide.

Mascarelli was initially served with the charges of hindering apprehension, desecration of human remains, being a certain person not to possess a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a defaced weapon, at the Ocean County Jail.

“Although our investigation originally led us to believe that Johnston murdered Mr. Rollason at the Ravenwood Drive residence, our continuing thorough and extensive investigation has revealed that Mascarelli conspired with Johnston and was, in fact, the person responsible for Mr. Rollason’s death,” Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement issued Thursday. “Additionally, our investigation has revealed that Mascarelli, Bolstad, and Krysiak assisted Johnston with dismembering Mr. Rollason’s body, and that Mascarelli, Bolstad, Krysiak, and Palumbo assisted Johnston in disposing of the body in Jackson Township.”

Palumbo, Bolstad and Krysiak were also charged in the case with numerous offenses, and a grand jury likewise handed up indictments against the trio on charges of hindering apprehension and the desecration or disturbing of human remains in connection with the same series of events.