Gregory Murphy of Stanhope is brought into the courtroom of Judge N. Peter Conforti in the killing of Marianna Ferreira of Green Township in Superior Court in Newton Monday.
GREEN TOWNSHIP — Marianna Ferreira headed home after church Sunday to meet her handyman, who was to install a skylight in her Green Township apartment.
Less than an hour later, authorities claim, the handyman, Gregg Murphy, stabbed the 56-year-old woman to death for no reason.
"He admitted stabbing the victim multiple times with the purpose of killing her. He acknowledged he had no justification and couldn’t say why he did it," First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller told Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti yesterday during Murphy’s first appearance in Superior Court.
The judge maintained bail at $750,000 with no cash option for the Stanhope man charged Sunday night with killing Ferreira, who was found stabbed several times in her Phillips Road home.
Officers were led to the 55-year-old Murphy by a friend of Ferreira’s, who had talked to the victim at a local church about noon where she told the friend of her appointment with the handyman.
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Ferreira’s body was found by her son, Jared Ferreira, 25, who is home from college for the holidays, said Mueller.
Conforti said it would be up to Mueller and Murphy’s attorney, public defender Kevin McLaughlin, to determine if the suspect should undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Murphy, who was charged with first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, did not speak during the brief court appearance.
Murphy had seven previous drug-related arrests, six in New Jersey and one in northern California, Mueller said.
McLaughlin, did not object to the $750,000 bail, saying his client did not have any money and could not afford to post bail, regardless of the amount.
Prior to retiring in January, Ferreira worked for the Morris County Division of Aging, Disability and Veterans. She helped people find the right assisted-living facility for themselves and their loved ones, and then followed up to make sure people got the care they needed, said division director Theresa Davis.
"She always had a smile on her faces, always asked people how things were going," said Davis. "She was always looking on the bright side of things."
Rich Vohden recalled he would see Ferreira several times a week, walking along the road near his farm in bucolic Sussex County.
Sometimes he’d stop his farm work and talk to her over a fence as she was strolling by; other times he’d pull his car over and roll down the window, just to chat to the friendly woman known throughout Green Township as "the walker."
"Everybody in town knew her as ‘the walker, she kept herself in shape," said Vohden, 74, a farmer on Pequest Road who also serves as a county freeholder.
"She was a nice girl, down to earth, very friendly. She’d smile and wave, and talk to everyone," he said.