The South Brunswick man is heading to trial again for allegedly killing his parents and burying them in a park. The state Supreme Court overturned his 2010 conviction
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Local police officials on Wednesday made the case that they would have found the buried bodies of a South Brunswick man's parents had he not confessed and led them to the gravesite.
Michael Maltese, 28, whose murder conviction for strangling his parents in 2008 was overturned by the state Supreme Court, will be tried again in January. A judge in November, however, will determine whether crucial physical evidence stemming from his confession will be admissible in the new trial.
Maltese strangled his parents Oct. 8, 2008, during a violent argument with his father, authorities said. He and his girlfriend then buried their bodies in a local park and went on a shopping spree with his parents' credit cards, prosecutors allege.
In 2010, Maltese was convicted of passion provocation manslaughter in the death of his father and murder in the death of his mother. His convictions for killing his parents were overturned in 2015 by the N.J. Supreme Court, which ruled his confession was inadmissible because police secretly recorded one of his conversations to help their investigation.
Law enforcement officials called to the stand Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Joseph Rea said they are confident they would have located the remains of Maltese's 58-year-old father, Michael J. Maltese, and 54-year-old mother, Kathleen Maltese, had their son not led them to the scene.
Their remains were found stacked in a hole in Beech Woods Park, less than two miles from the couple's home on Maple Street in the Monmouth Junction of the township, South Brunswick Capt. James Ryan testified.
Had Maltese not confessed and led authorities to the bodies, Ryan testified, police would have used resources from the FBI and State Police to find the remains by doing a grid search in all directions, working outward from the couple's home where Maltese also lived.
"I'm 100 percent convinced we would have found them," Ryan testified as he answered questions from Assistant Prosecutor Christine D'Elia.
Ryan estimated it would have taken police about two weeks to find the corpses.
Authorities were skeptical after Maltese's sister, who had access to their parents' credit cards, said she noticed suspicious activity on the accounts. Some of Maltese's family, including his father's brother, started to think the younger Maltese was lying to them about where his parents were. They wanted him to undergo a polygraph test, which he later failed, Ryan testified.
"It smells like crap, it looks like crap," Lt. Louis Andrinopoulos, of State Police's missing persons unit, said during a law enforcement meeting to discuss the missing couple, according to Ryan's testimony. "This is not a missing persons case, this is a homicide."
Ryan had confronted Maltese, he testified, asking him if he killed and buried his parents.
"That's f---ed up," Maltese responded, according to Ryan's testimony. He did not deny the accusations, Ryan told the judge.
Had Maltese not confessed, authorities would have searched two to three miles in every direction around the residence, eventually investigating Beech Woods Park, Andrinopoulos testified. Case after case, he testified, homicide suspects are afraid to move bodies farther than that and prefer to transport the remains in an area with which they are familiar.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we would have searched that park," Andrinopoulos testified.
Maltese's attorney, Heather Timmons, a public defender, called Andrinopoulos' memory of that day into question because he was testifying without notes. The lieutenant said he remembered the case well because he has not investigated many double murders in his career.
Jurors convicted Maltese of killing his parents in November 2010. He was sentenced to 64 years in state prison.
Maltese allegedly killed his parents, carried their bodies into the bathroom, stripped them of their clothing and placed plastic bags over their heads, authorities have said. He then drove the bodies in the trunk of his parents' Jaguar and buried them at the park, prosecutors said.
Before an interview with investigators, Maltese asked that a camera be turned off while he spoke with his uncle. Officers agreed, but secretly recorded the conversation to help their investigation.
The state Supreme Court reversed Maltese's manslaughter and murder convictions in August 2015, ruling that his confession to police was inadmissible because it was obtained after officers violated his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
The justices upheld his convictions of second-degree desecration of human remains, tampering with evidence, third-degree hindering apprehension, fraudulent use of a credit card and other charges.
During the trial, Maltese testified that he killed his father after the elder Maltese started an argument and attacked him.
"I choked him until he stopped moving," Maltese told the jurors.
The defendant, however, has claimed his then-girlfriend, Nicole Taylor, killed his mother. Taylor testified Maltese strangled his mother.
Taylor testified she helped clean, cover and bury the bodies. She pleaded guilty to two counts of accomplice to manslaughter and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
In the days after the killings, Maltese and Taylor lived off money from Kathleen Maltese's accounts, according to testimony. Among the purchases they made was an engagement ring for Taylor, she testified.
A judge will determine on Nov. 8 if the physical evidence stemming from Maltese's confession can be used in his upcoming trial, which is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 16.
Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
