ASBURY PARK PRESS APP.COM $1.

50

SATURDAY 04.22.17
FRENCH VOTE
COULD IMPACT
YOUR FUTURE
Wall Street professionals say U.S.
investors portfolios could be jolted by
election results, Page 1B

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/asburyparkpress

ASBURY PARK MUSIC AND FILM FESTIVAL

THE SIGHTS &

THE SOUNDS FREEHOLD KILLING

Strangling
his pregnant
girlfriend gets
man 28 years
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

FREEHOLD - Asking for leniency for a man about to

be sentenced for strangling his pregnant girlfriend, a
defense attorney said Sender Neftali Villatoro-Reyes
lost his mind and couldnt let go when he was told that
the child she was carrying wasnt his.
But a DNA test on the unborn fetus proved other-
wise, said Superior Court Judge Richard W. English,
discounting defense attorney Allison Friedmans argu-
ment.
English proceeded to sentence Villatoro-Reyes Fri-
day to 28 years in prison for the aggravated manslaugh-
ter of Luceny Fermin-Gallegos.
Villatoro-Reyes, 27, of Freehold pleaded guilty to the
charge in January, admitting he strangled 31-year-old
TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Fermin-Gallegos on May 16, 2014, in the familys Hud-
Carrie Potter, the granddaughter of the owners of Asbury Parks Upstage Club, watches as Albee Tellone (front, right), an son Street apartment.
original Upstage Club band member, jams with the Glimmer Grass Band during the VIP party Friday at The Asbury Hotel. Jennifer Lipp, an assistant Monmouth County prose-
cutor, said the couples son, then 3, slept nearby as his
father held his hands around his mothers neck for five
Bands bring rock n roll excitement to six minutes.
Thats a long time to put your hands around some-
ones neck, Lipp said, noting Fermin-Gallegos was five
to Asbury Park Music and Film Festival months pregnant when she was killed.
Villatoro-Reyes will have to serve at least 85 percent

CHRIS JORDAN @CHRISFHJORDAN
ASBURY PARK - Max Weinberg
doesnt need a pair of drum sticks in his
hands to entertain an audience. A mi-
crophone will do just fine.
Weinberg, drummer for the Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band will
be on stage in A Conversation with
Max Weinberg, as part of the Asbury
Park Music and Film Festival at 4:45 p.m. today at the
House of Independents in Asbury Park.
Weinberg will be interviewed by Bob Santelli, a
Point Pleasant Beach native who is the executive di-
rector of the Grammy Museum.
I really like public speaking, and the questions See STRANGLING, Page 6A
and answers that come out of that, said Weinberg,
who started a one-man public speaking show called MORE ONLINE
Growing Up on E Street in 1986. Ive done a few
(events) with Bob (Santelli). Bob is the greatest inter- To watch a video of the prosecutor speaking to the judge in
viewer there is. He is a historian and I tend to try to this case, visit APP.com and search prosecutor.
have a historical perspective on the music Ive been
involved in and the music I learned how to play
from.
Among Weinbergs recent events was a kids drum-
mers clinic at the Lakehouse Music Academy in As-
bury Park in January.
Theyre incredibly enthusiastic, and theyre also
$14M Toms River
See SIGHTS, Page 2A firehouse called
cheaper than fixing
JEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLE

TOMS RIVER - Building a new, $14 million firehouse

in a public parking lot on Irons Street would be cheaper
than renovating two downtown firehouses that are each
about 100 years old.
Thats according to Robert Manns, principal archi-
tect of Maryland-based Manns Woodward Studios,
whose firm has been working with fire district officials
on a conceptual plan for a three-story 33,000-square-
foot firehouse.
The building would be constructed on the parking
lot, which is owned by the township and would be donat-
FILE PHOTO (LEFT); TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ed to the fire commissioners.
Max Weinberg (at left) will appear at 4:45 p.m. today at the House of Independents in Asbury Park as part of the festival. Its far more expensive to renovate the two build-
At right, Tom Bernard, co-president Sony Pictures Classics; Tom Donovan, publisher of the Asbury Park Press; Danny Clinch, ings than to build an entirely new building, Manns said
photographer and musician; and Adam Block, president of Sony Legacy, join up Friday night at the VIP party. Thursday, at the first of two planned public information
sessions on the new firehouse proposal.
A second information session is scheduled for 7 to 9
Be sure to visit APMFF.com for all the latest Asbury Park p.m. May 2 at town hall. There will be an open house at
fire companies 1 and 2 from 6 to 7 p.m. that day.
Music and Film Festival news, including videos and photos. Voters in fire district 1 will vote on a referendum on
the new firehouse during a special election May 13.

See FIREHOUSE, Page 6A

New search for teens body at bridge
ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS
AND KATIE PARK @KATHSPARK
BELMAR - At the bridge where Sarah Sterns body
is suspected of being discarded, police shut down
traffic Friday and spent almost half an hour investi-
gating.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Office spokeswom-
an Donna Weaver confirmed investigators were in
the area, and their work prompted a closure of all
four lanes of the bridge from 3:50 p.m. to 4:11 p.m.
Its an active investigation right now, thats all I
can tell you, Weaver said.
She declined to comment further on the search or
what it was connected to, saying in an email that
there is no need for any alarm.
Investigators were seen peering off the bridge
MORE ONLINE
To watch a related video, visit APP.com and search for Toms
River fire companies.
into the river, where a State Police boat searched.
The Route 35 bridge, spanning the Shark River, is
the location where authorities say Liam McAtasney
and Preston Taylor dumped the body of 19-year-old
Stern, who was last seen at her Neptune City home on
Dec. 2. The bridge has been the site of several police
searches since Sterns disappearance and the Feb. 2
arrest of McAtasney and Taylor, both 19.
Sterns body hasnt been recovered.
Court documents allege that McAtasney strangled
See BODY, Page 6A
MORE ONLINE
To see new video and read more about this case, visit
APP.com and search Sarah Stern.

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
LOTTERIES
7D
8D
6D
3A
2A
MOVIES
OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
WEATHER
5D
8A
11A
1C
8C
VOLUME 138

NUMBER 96

SINCE 1879
"6<;<3
 










"TCVSZ
1BSL
1SFTT
EBJMZ
LLLLLLLL