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Execution sought in murders of 2 boys

Lawyer: Suspect to plead not guilty
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/29/06
BY KATHLEEN HOPKINS
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

TOMS RIVER — Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas F. Kelaher said Thursday he will seek the death penalty for an illegal immigrant accused of bludgeoning two Stafford children to death in January and kidnapping their mother.

Kelaher made public an indictment handed up late Wednesday charging Richard Toledo, 21, of Stafford with two counts of capital murder and a host of other charges.

Toledo is charged with killing Karlo Gonzalez, 14, and his brother, Zabdiel Gonzalez, 7, in Stafford on Jan. 19. The grand jury cited aggravating factors making Toledo eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.

Those factors are that the murders were committed to escape detection, apprehension or punishment for another crime, and that they were committed during the commission of or flight from another crime.

In the murder of Zabdiel Gonzalez, the grand jury cited a third aggravating factor — that the victim was younger than 14.

"A finding of aggravating factors by the grand jury makes Richard Toledo eligible for the death penalty," Kelaher said in a prepared statement. "The case will proceed as such."

Toledo was also indicted for allegedly kidnapping the brothers' mother, Wanda Gonzalez, robbing her with a deadly weapon, carjacking her in her 1999 Dodge Caravan, and possessing two deadly weapons — a knife and a hammer.

Authorities have said the boys were bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer. They also have alleged that Toledo was armed with a knife when he abducted their mother.

"All I can say is, he'll enter a not-guilty plea to the indictment, and we'll be ready to defend it," said Deputy Public Defender Frank Gonzalez, who is representing Toledo.

Baby-sitting duty


Toledo is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had once worked with Wanda Gonzalez at a cleaning service and was renting a room in her Middie Lane home in Stafford. Authorities said Toledo was baby-sitting the two boys when the murders occurred.

When the mother returned home from grocery shopping about 7:15 p.m., Toledo reportedly told her the boys were fine, then abducted her in her minivan, authorities have alleged.

Toledo forced Wanda Gonzalez to withdraw $500 from an automated teller machine at the Commerce Bank on Route 72 in Stafford before driving her 40 miles north on the Garden State Parkway, reportedly bound with wire and neckties, authorities said.

She escaped at the Monmouth Service Area in Wall, where Toledo had stopped for gasoline. Gonzalez did not yet know that her children had been killed.

Toledo fled into a wooded area and was arrested at 4:30 a.m. the next day after an extensive manhunt.

If Toledo is convicted of the capital murder charges, a jury would have to consider whether to impose the death penalty. If the jury finds him guilty and validates the aggravating factors, but spares him from the death penalty, he would face life in prison with no possibility of parole.

If he's convicted but the aggravating factors are dismissed, he would face two life prison terms, with no chance for parole before he serves 85 percent of a life term, or 63 1/3 years, for each murder, under the state's No Early Release Act for violent criminals.

Toledo also would face up to 30 years in prison each for kidnapping and carjacking, if convicted; up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the robbery; and up to five years in prison for each of the weapons offenses, upon convictions.

Toledo is in the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, awaiting trial. Assistant Chief Prosecutor Ronald DeLigny said he would be arraigned on the charges in the next several weeks.

Kathleen Hopkins: (732) 557-5732 or khopkins@app.com

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