Police cars block traffic after a fire on Robbins Street in

downtown Toms River. BOB BIELK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

TOMS RIVER Minutes after police responded to a
burglar alarm Thursday night at East Coast Gamers in
downtown Toms River, smoke and flames could be seen
pouring out of the trading card and video game store,
during an overnight fire that destroyed several neigh-
boring businesses.
A tournament at East Coast Gamers, located at 38
Robbins St., ended around 10 p.m., police said. Police re-
sponded to the burglar alarm at 11:18 p.m.
Upon arrival, a faint smoke odor was observed near
the front door. Within minutes, smoke and flames began
to billow from the front and rear of the structure, said
Officer Ralph Stocco, Toms River Police Department.
Stocco said several fire companies from Toms River
and surrounding communities responded. The fire was
See FIRE, Page A13
Fire destroys Toms
River businesses
By Stephanie Loder and Dan Radel
@Loder1 and @DanielRadelAPP
Woman choked
to death in
Freehold home
FREEHOLD A 24-year-old man strangled his girl-
friend overnight at their Freehold home while their 3-
year-old child slept in the next room, according to the
Monmouth County Prosecutors Office.
Sender Neftali Villatoro Reyes was arrested and
charged with first-degree murder in the death of 31-
year-old Lucenay Fermin Gallegos, with whom he lived
at 51 Hudson St., a news release from the Prosecutors
Office states.
The police were called at 2:15 a.m. and found Fermin
Gallegos unresponsive in the couples apartment,
which was on the third floor of the triplex. Their 3-year-
old child was sleeping in the next room, according to the
release.
A spokesman for the Prosecutors Office could not
immediately say who called 911. Villatoro Reyes was ar-
rested at the scene without incident and is being held at
Boyfriend is suspect in murder;
happened near their sleeping tot
By Russ Zimmer @RussZimmer
See CHOKED, Page A16
There are no legal avenues
we can pursue at this time ...
JOSEPH D. CORONATO,
about prosecuting Larry N. Thompson for the murder
I SHOT
HER
DEAD
ACQUITTED TRIGGERMAN:
The man who fired the .45-caliber semi-
automatic pistol that killed Maria Marshall
in Ocean Countys most notorious murder
case has confessed his guilt almost 30 years
after the crime, according to authorities.
Larry N. Thompson, 71, incarcerated at
Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for
his part in an unrelated armored-car rob-
bery and the attempted murder of a Shreve-
port police officer, has told Louisiana and
New Jersey law enforcement officials that
he was the shooter, 28 years after a jury in
Mays Landing found him not guilty of the
homicide.
Now languishing behind bars in the 12th
year of a more than 50-year sentence for his
crimes in Louisiana, Thompson confessed
one month ago that the Ocean County Pros-
ecutors Office had, in fact, gotten it right in
January 1985, when they charged him as the
murderer.
Under the double jeopardy rule of the
U.S. Constitution, no one can be tried twice
for the same crime after a verdict of not Maria
Marshall
FILE PHOTO
Finally, confession
in 1984 murder
of Maria Marshall
By Erik Larsen@Erik_Larsen
See MARSHALL, Page A5
WATCH VIDEO
Scan QR code to see Robert
Marshalls 2006 resentencing.
MORE INSIDE
For a related story, see Page A4.
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SATURDAY 05.17.14
ADVICE D6
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COMICS D5
LOCAL A3
MOVIES D4
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OPINION A15
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INDEX TODAY
SMELLY JOB
Volunteers and inmates
are to help remove
thousands of dead fish
from the Shark River
and Belmar beach.
Page A3
STAFFORD Whos Rockys daddy? The answer to
that question may never be known.
And, for that reason, the 38-pound feline suspect-
ed of being a purebred bobcat can go home.
That was Municipal Court Judge Damian G. Mur-
rays surprise ruling Friday, as Rockys owner, Gin-
ny Fine, waited to hear the results of a DNA test on
the 3-year-old feline that has become a local cause
clbre.
Rockys lineage was pivotal to whether he could
go home: If the DNA test revealed the animal was
purebred bobcat, Fine would not be allowed to get
him back, unless she qualified for and obtained a
special permit from the state Department of Envi-
ronmental Protection. But if Rocky turned out to be a
hybrid of bobcat and Maine coon cat, as Fine has rep-
resented, she would be allowed to take him back.
In a stunner that could have been equated to an
Judge: DNA test inconclusive,
so Rocky can go home again
38-lb. feline that got loose suspected of being purebred bobcat
By Kathleen Hopkins
@Khopkinsapp
See ROCKY, Page A11
CREAM
OF THE CROP
INDULGE
Beauty expert gives
lowdown on high-end
skin care products D1
GM TO PAY $35M FOR RECALL DELAYS PAGE 1B