TOMS RIVER, N.J. (TCN) — A judge ordered a 29-year-old woman to serve over two decades in prison for fatally shooting and dismembering a man, and letting a man who was wanted for killing his ex stay with her for several days.
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office announced Jan. 31 that Elizabeth Mascarelli was sentenced to 25 years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 85% of her sentence, or about 21 years. She pleaded guilty in December to aggravated manslaughter for her role in the death of 56-year-old Kerry Rollason.
The discovery of Rollason’s remains began when law enforcement officers identified Johnston as the suspect in 25-year-old Gabriella Caroleo’s June 27, 2024, death. The Asbury Park Press reports a passerby stopped to helped Caroleo. As she was dying, she named Johnston as her killer. Police located Johnston at a home on Ravenwood Drive in Toms River on July 5, 2024, and a standoff ensued.
Three people at the home exited the residence, but Johnston, who was reportedly armed, and Mascarelli reportedly stayed inside. Negotiators tried to communicate with Johnston, but he reportedly did not cooperate. Mascarelli surrendered after several hours. Police used a drone to check on Johnston and saw he was deceased with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
While detectives continued investigating Caroleo’s death, they learned about a possible killing at the home in Toms River. They obtained a search warrant and found “numerous body parts in black bags along with additional evidence connected to the murder, including a hatchet.” Rollason reportedly owned the Ravenwood Drive home where his body parts had been found.
The medical examiner determined Rollason died from multiple gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma.
Police arrested Mascarelli on July 15, 2024, on 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. As the investigation continued, detectives determined Mascarelli “conspired with Johnston, and was, in fact, the individual responsible for Mr. Rollason’s death.”
Mascarelli and the three others who surrendered outside the home reportedly helped her dismember Rollason’s body and dispose of his remains. A grand jury returned an indictment in October on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, hindering apprehension, desecration/disturbing human remains, and other counts.
According to the Asbury Park Press, Mascarelli and her co-conspirators went to McDonald’s after killing Rollason but before they dismembered him.
Mascarelli apologized to Rollason’s family at her sentencing hearing, saying, “Nothing can justify what happened that day.”
One of the prosecuting attorney’s said, “Frankly, the facts are the plot of a horror movie. One has to suspend themselves from reality to accept that something so gruesome, so horrific, inhumane, could happen right here in Toms River, in Ocean County, New Jersey.”
