Robert O Marshall – Murder for Hire

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Robert O Marshall hired a hitman to kill his wife

September 1984 would result in the tragic death of a loving mother of three sons. Was it a robbery gone bad or an intentional murder?  Listen and learn how the greed of Robert O Marshall destroyed the lives of so many people. For thirty years the question lingered. Who killed this wife and mother?

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 1984

1984 was the year that Band Aid song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” aired to raise funds to address famine in Ethiopia. In addition:

  • The first episode of Jeopardy aired with host Alex Trebek. Miami Vice and Murder She Wrote all aired in September 1984.
  • The average annual income was $21,600 
  • 1 gallon of gas was $1.10
  • A movie ticket was $2.50

Toms River (Township of Toms River) New Jersey

Toms River is located in Ocean County, New Jersey. It was formally established on February 21, 1798, as Dover Township. In 2006 the name was changed to Township of Toms River. It is named after a British Army officer by the name of William Toms, hence no apostrophe in the name. Toms River was once considered a rural farming community. With the development of the Garden State Parkway in 1954, the economic status of the area changed.

In 1984 Toms River had a population of a little under 70,000 citizens.

Blind Faith

Blind Faith was written by Joe McGinniss who was the author of the book Fatal Vision – regarding Dr. Jeffery McDonald. The book was published in 1989. The NBC TV miniseries aired in 1990 and starred Robert Urich, Joanna Kerns, Doris Roberts, and Johnny Galecki.

The Marshall Family

Robert Oakley Marshall (45) was born on December 16, 1939, in Queens, NY. His parents were Howard Marshall, a sporting goods salesman, and Oakleigh Valentine Weeks. He was the oldest of five siblings. Rob graduated from Villanova University in 1963. He completed Navy flight training on November 22, 1963. This was the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Robert O Marshall eventually became a life insurance salesman for Provident Mutual Life of Philadelphia. He was described as overbearing, arrogant, and egocentric at times. He was involved in civic activities in the community such as the United Way.

Maria Puszynski Marshall (42) was married to Robert O Marshall. She Grew up in Philadelphia, PA in the Polish neighborhood of Port Richmond. Her father was a doctor. They met at a high school party after Rob’s parents moved to PA. The couple married in December 1963.

She was described as a striking blonde who had an easy-going personality and was a loving and supportive mother. Maria was a stay-at-home mom to their three sons.

Rob and Maria had three sons:

  • Christopher Marshall (18) – freshman attending Lehigh University in PA and was on the swimming team
  • Roby Marshall (19) – was attending Villanova University in PA, but was currently on suspension, or at least not asked back until the fall semester was over.  Had a job locally and was taking classes through the local community college until he could return in the spring
  • John Marshall (13) – in 8th grade

The family moved to the Brookside section of Toms River in 1973 and belonged to the local country club. The parents liked to travel to Atlantic City to gamble on a regular basis, especially Rob. Toms River to Atlantic City is approximately a 57-minute drive down the Garden State Parkway.

Friday, September 7, 1984

Around 12:30 am a man is desperately trying to flag down passing vehicles near the entrance to the Oyster Creek picnic area along the Garden State Parkway. When a car finally stopped he told them his wife had been shot and to call the police. The occupants of the car drove ahead to the next available payphone and notified the police. Then they returned to the picnic area they found Robert O Marshall walking around with what appeared to be a head wound.

His wife, Maria lay dead on the front seat of their 1980 Cadillac Eldorado.

Police Arrive

When the police arrived Rob told them that they had been traveling back from Atlantic City. He felt that one of the rear tires started to feel funny so he pulled off the parkway into the Oyster Creek picnic area. To describe this area – you have to go a ways off the road, there are no lights and it’s heavily wooded with a sign at the entry that says it is to be closed at dusk.

When police checked Maria for a pulse they could find none. Rob told police that while he was bending down to look at the tire he heard another car enter the picnic area. He didn’t see or hear anyone exit the vehicle.  As he was examining the tire he was hit on the head and knocked unconscious.

When he awoke, the money he had won at the casino was gone and Maria was dead.

Telling His Sons Their Mother is Dead

Rob was taken to the hospital to get his head injury looked at and he received five stitches.  Soon after a priest from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church arrived and took Rob home to tell his two sons that their mother had been murdered. They arrived around 3 am to break the news to Roby and John.

Rob told them that their mother had been murdered by a man in the Oyster Creek picnic area after he was knocked out.  Rob’s story to his boys was that someone must have followed them from the casino to rob them.

Police arrived a short time after Rob had returned home. They asked him to come with them to the state police barracks to make a formal statement. He returned home just in time for the murder to be on the news. Friends started calling and coming by to give their condolences.

Rob’s version of events was that someone must have followed them from the casino and had seen that he had won more than two thousand dollars at the blackjack table.  This person or persons then followed them into the picnic area where he had gone to check a tire that he felt was going flat. He was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, his head was bleeding and the money was gone from his pants pocket. Maria was face down across the front seat of the car in a puddle of blood.

Roby felt that his father was keeping it together and functioning better than he was. Rob already made arrangements to have Maria’s body cremated and her funeral to be held on Monday, September 10th.

Later that morning, Rob traveled to Lehigh University to break the news to Chris.

Brother in Law’s Questions

The family member’s started to arrive including Rob’s brother-in-law, who was an attorney. In a private conversation, he advised Rob to come clean about an affair he had been having with Sarann Kraushaar (In Blind Faith – Felice Rosenberg) over the past year. The couples belonged to the same country club.

He told Rob that Maria knew about the affair after finding hotel receipts and phone bills. The phone bills showed a number to a local high school where Sarann was employed as a vice-principal – over 50 calls a month.

Rob admitted to the affair stating he was having a mid-life crisis. He was feeling depressed and bored with his work and that he and Sarann were in love. It was nothing he had ever felt before and they were planning on leaving their spouses and buying a place together.  They had even set up a safety deposit box to pass messages back and forth i.e. cassette tapes and letters.

He also admitted to having some financial difficulties. They were over $300,000 ($747,000 in 2020) in debt. Keep in mind that Rob had a gross income of $130,000 ($324,000 in 2020). His need for a certain standard of living was more than his income could support. By August 1984 no banks or credit card companies would extend him loans or increase his spending limit.

He blamed it on Maria’s spending habits.

Maria Knew it All

Maria knew it all and was going to confront Rob with it all on Monday, September 10th. The brother-in-law dropped one more bombshell and that was that Maria had hired a private detective to have Rob followed. Rob’s response was that if he only knew about the private detective then none of this would have happened.

When questioned about what that was supposed to mean, Rob deflected. He said that if Maria already knew about the affair then he would have left her sooner and they would not have been in Atlantic City that night.

The brother-in-law then asked him if he had any life insurance out on Maria to which he replied he did as it was a good sales strategy. After all, he was an insurance salesman!

How much life insurance? According to Rob, at the time of Maria’s death, she was worth $1.5 million. In 2020 that’s $3,734,524.

Brother in Law’s Advice

At the end of their conversation, Rob’s brother-in-law gave him some sage advice. First, tell the boys about the affair before they hear about it on the news. Second, having worked for a neighboring state’s Attorney General’s Office he pointed out the way this was looking.

The husband was having an affair and planned on leaving his wife. The husband has deep financial difficulties. The wife has $1.5 million in life insurance on her. The wife gets shot to death in the husband’s car sometime after midnight in a secluded picnic area where said husband pulled off to check a tire. The husband only sustains a small injury to his head.

Rob heard what his brother-in-law stated, but replied that there was no possible way police would look at him. He felt he was too prominent in Toms River and that placed him above reproach. The last piece of advice was for Rob to get a lawyer, which he had already done.

Disbelief

There were some members of Robert O Marshall’s inner circle who weren’t buying what Rob was trying to sell. There were questions as to why he would stop at the Oyster Creek Picnic area that was dark and secluded when four miles up the road was a 24-hour fast-food restaurant. Others that knew Rob never saw him lift a finger in manual labor and couldn’t see him changing a tire.

Another issue was that within hours of Maria’s murder, Rob had her body cremated. That occurred before the prosecutor’s office or the state police could prevent the body from being released.

At the reception at the Marshall residence on Monday, September 10th, a friend of Maria’s confronted Rob out in the open about whether he had something to do with Maria’s death. This disbelief also included his son, Chris.

The Investigation

Maria Marshall’s autopsy showed two bullet wounds about 3 mm apart that made entry into her back. She had an exit wound to the front of her chest and another through her left breast. These bullet wounds were made at very close range. A bullet .45 caliber bullet was lodged in her left forearm.

When the shooting occurred Maria had been lying down with her left arm under her. The cause of death was massive hemorrhaging due to the left lung and the main artery of the chest being lacerated.

Police investigators impounded the Cadillac Eldorado. Upon examination of the rear tire, investigators found that the tire had a clean 1 inch cut in the sidewall. It looked like it had been slit open by a knife.

Maria’s Lawyer

Police investigators were contacted by Maria’s bankruptcy and divorce lawyer. When it came time to move forward with proceedings Maria decided to try to save her marriage and to hold off on doing anything.

Maria Marshall’s attorney gave detectives a note he had received from Maria stating that she had more information. This included three telephone numbers with a Louisiana area code.

Police also brought in Sarann Kraushaar, even going so far as to handcuff and fingerprint her. She invoked her right to counsel immediately. She did talk with police telling them that she and Rob had begun their affair in June 1983. They were planning on leaving both of their spouses in the near future.

She also shared that Rob had asked her if she knew of anyone who could get rid of Maria. That would solve all of his problems. She claims that she told him that she didn’t know of anyone except for one woman. This woman’s family allegedly had ties to organized crime. If Rob was serious then she could not be with him.

Louisiana Connection

Police tracked one of the numbers down as belonging to Robert Cumber (Blind Faith = Andrew Myers), a hardware store clerk in Louisiana. Police paid Cumber a visit and brought him to the local authorities for more questioning.

Cumber stated that in May 1984, he met both Rob and Maria Marshall at a birthday party of a family friend (the family friend was the one with alleged ties to organized crime). Rob and he got to talking about IRA’s and if he knew of anyone that he could hire as an investigator as he didn’t want to use anyone local.

When Robert O Marshall later phoned Cumber he was referred to Billy Wayne McKinnon (Blind Faith = Felin L’Heureaux). McKinnon agreed to come to Atlantic City, NJ, and meet Marshall for $5,000. Billy Wayne McKinnon was a former police detective.

When police returned to NJ they went to the Marshall residence and spoke to Rob. Sarann was present. They asked him if he knew or had heard the name of Jimmy Davis (Blind Faith = Ernie Grandshaw) from Shreveport, Louisiana, or a Billy Wayne McKinnon (Blind Faith – Felin L’Heureaux).

Rob was visibly shaken up but stated that on the advice of his attorney he was not to answer any questions. Days later Roby took a phone message from Jimmy Davis asking that Rob contact him right away. Roby relayed that message to his dad who was with Sarann at her beach condo. Rob told Roby that he had met Davis a long time ago. He had lost a bet on a basketball game and had wired Davis his winnings, but didn’t really know why he was contacting him now.

Roby pointed out that his father never watched any NBA games.

Robert Cumber’s Indictment

On September 26, 1984, news broke that Robert Cumber was indicted by a grand jury in Ocean County on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Maria Marshall’s death. Cumber’s role was that of an intermediary who passed messages (31 in fact) between Robert O Marshall and McKinnon. The messages were primarily Rob asking McKinnon to call him.

Cumber was a former Air Force clerk and current hardware store clerk that had no criminal history up to this point. He would be convicted in 1986 as being an accomplice and would receive 30 years in prison with no chance for parole. Cumber could have faced a lesser charge if he had taken a plea, but he didn’t. He took his chances at trial which did not turn out well for him.

In 2006, Cumber received clemency from Governor Richard Codey after serving 20 years. At the age of 68, he returned to Coushatta, La., and was reunited with his wife and daughter.

Soon after Cumber’s indictment aired, Sarann Kraushaar ended her relationship with Robert O Marshall. This was allegedly done on the advice of counsel.

Robert O Marshall Suicide Attempt

On September 27th, Rob checked into room 16 of the Best Western Hotel in Lakewood and recorded three messages. One for each of his sons and one for his brother-in-law. He planned on committing suicide but fell asleep after mixing 50 Restoril sleeping pills in a can of Coca-Cola.

Ocean County detectives who had been assigned to watch Rob contacted a local rescue squad. They feared that when he failed to answer a call placed to his room at 1 am that he may take his own life. Rob was transported to a local hospital and was of course fine. His attorney, had him transported to a psychiatric facility near Philadelphia. Police confiscated the tapes.

What the Police Put Together

Robert O Marshall and McKinnon met on June 18, 1984, at Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City. Marshall offered to pay him $65,000 (in 2020 a little under $161,500) to kill his wife. This was in addition to the $5,000 already paid. He also paid another $7,000 and provided a picture of Maria. Rob wanted the hit to be carried out that night. McKinnon did not carry out the hit and returned to La.

McKinnon once again returned to Atlantic City on July 19, 1984, and met with Robert O Marshall. Rob insisted that he wanted the job done that night when he and Maria would be out. Marshall’s plan was that he would leave Maria in the car and go into a restaurant to use their facilities. While he was away from the car a hit would be carried out and made to look like a robbery. Once again McKinnon failed to complete the job mostly because the parking lot Marshall chose was well lit and busy.

Robert O Marshall was desperate to have the murder completed. He offered McKinnon an extra $15,000 if he would come back before Labor Day. McKinnon did so on September 6, 1984. He met Robert O Marshall at a service parking area located south of Toms River. They scouted for a site where the murder could be carried out. Again it was to be made to look like a robbery.

Day of the Murder – September 6, 1984

Earlier that day, Rob and Maria had taken Roby out to lunch. They let him know that they would be going to Atlantic City later that night. Rob and Maria went to Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City for a night of dinner and gambling.

Around 9:30 pm he excused himself and met McKinnon outside the casino. He told him they would be leaving around midnight and gave him $800. The other $15,000 was found in his pocket. Robert O Marshall also asked for the photographs of Maria and of his residence that he had given McKinnon in June.

While they were at dinner around 10 pm, Rob had a phone brought over to their table. He called Chris at Lehigh and let him know that they missed him and checked up on how he was doing. Rob asked him to come home for a visit. Chris had last seen his parents when they dropped him off at Lehigh on August 24, 1984.

September 7, 1984

At 12:30 pm Robert O Marshall pulled into the pre-arranged meeting spot at milepost 71 along the Garden State Parkway at the Oyster Creek picnic area. McKinnon had already dropped off the shooter, Larry Thompson, at the picnic area. Thompson was a mechanic by trade from Louisiana. McKinnon then drove southbound on the Garden State Parkway only to turn around and re-enter the northbound lane waiting for Rob to drive by.

When Rob drove by, he waited for approximately two minutes and then followed him back to the picnic area. Maria was lying across the front seat when Rob exited the car on the pretense of looking at a flat tire. He squatted down and was hit on the head as per their plan. Maria was shot twice in the back and died soon after.

Thompson, (Blind Faith = Ricky Dew) was to take $15,000 from Rob’s pocket, but only found $2,000 of the agreed-upon amount. When McKinnon arrived he ran back to the Marshall vehicle and squatted down by the rear tire which he cut with a knife.

The Trial

Death Penalty

On January 28, 1986, the trials of Robert O Marshall and Larry Thompson commenced in Atlantic County. Both were charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances. This was going to be a death penalty case.

Judge Manuel H. Greenberg presided and Kevin Kelly, assistance Ocean County protector represented the state. In opening statements, Kelly laid out the prosecution’s case. Marshall had solicited and paid for the murder of his wife so he could collect $1.5 million in life insurance, pay off his debts, and continue his relationship with his married mistress. The state’s key witness, Billy Wayne McKinnon, an accused co-conspirator would testify to these facts.

The defense attorney for Robert O Marshall was Glenn Zeitz (Blind Faith = Carl Seely). Thompson’s defense attorney was Francis Hartman. He indicated that the only reason his client was here was that McKinnon needed a fall guy in order to get his sweetheart deal. The evidence suggested that McKinnon was the actual shooter.

Larry Thompson wife, Wanda Diane Thompson, and son were in attendance. Wanda Thompson had been residing at the Marshall residence since her husband’s arrest.

Also in attendance besides various reporters and curiosity seekers was writer Joe McGinniss.

Billy Wayne McKinnon

Billy Wayne McKinnon was a former Caddo Parish detective in Shreveport, La. turned private investigator. He was the state’s star witness. In a plea deal for a lighter sentence (five years in prison), he agreed to testify against Robert O Marshall and Larry Thompson. McKinnon testified that he had met Robert O Marshall in Atlantic City in June 1984. He was retained to kill Maria Marshall for $65,000.

He stated that he returned to New Jersey in July 1985 along with his friend, Michael Gentry, but failed to carry out the contract at that time. McKinnon returned for a final time in September 1984. This time he brought Larry Thompson along to complete the hit.

At that point, he had been paid a total of $22,000 and was expecting to receive the rest of the payment once Marshall collected all of the life insurance he had taken out on his wife.

The defense tried to paint McKinnon as a liar. He was the one who carried out the shooting and exaggerated the amount of money being paid for him to do so in order to get a deal from the state and avoid the death penalty.

Life Insurance Policies

At trial, the state introduced all of the life insurance policies that Robert O Marshall had taken out on Maria. This included a $130,000 policy just hours before she was murdered. In total, close to $1.5 million with $600,000 set aside for his children.

Eight insurance companies also testified to Marshall taking out policies in the year prior to Maria’s murder.

Kraushaar Affair

Sarann Kraushaar (44) testified about her 14-month affair with Robert O Marshall and also about a conversation they had in December 1983. Rob confessed to her that he was $300,000 in debt ($300,000) (blaming it on Maria’s spending habits). He said that if he could just “get rid of her” the insurance he had out on Maria would cover his debts.

Kraushaar admitted to continuing their affair for 18 days after Maria’s murder until she broke it off. She no longer believed what Rob had told her about his connections to individuals from Louisianna. Kraushaar had been at the Marshall residence the night the police had shown Rob pictures of McKinnon and James Davis. They asked him if he knew them – which he denied.

Two days later, when she and Robert O Marshall returned to her condominium in Ortley Beach there was a phone message from Robert Jr. (20) telling him that he is to call a number from Louisiana. McKinnon testified that he had made that call to the Marshall residence that day.

James Davis was initially indicted on conspiracy to commit murder charges. He also became a material witness and testified to picking up $5,500 that Robert O Marshall had wired McKinnon. After ending the affair, Kraushaar resigned as vice-principal of Pinelands Regional High School in Tuckerton, NJ, and reunited with her husband. They opened a chain of Blockbuster Video stores. She and her husband moved to Naples, Florida.

The Defense

Robert O Marshall took the stand in his own defense. He claimed that he didn’t hire McKinnon to kill his wife, just to investigate what Maria knew about his affair and what she did with the casino winnings he had given her. In McKinnon’s earlier testimony he stated that Marshall had paid him approximately $22,500 for the murder. Rob testified it was only $6,300 for the investigation into his wife.

On cross-examination, Kelly asked if he had received a write-up on the “investigation” he had hired McKinnon to conduct, including any receipts for the money he had paid him. The answer was no.

Marshall also testified that while he was checking out the right rear tire, just before he was hit on the head, he heard Maria cry out “Oh, my God”. That was a surprise to his sons. They had always thought that their mother was asleep when she was shot, not awake knowing what was coming.

On cross-examination in what could only be described as a Perry Mason moment, Prosecutor Kelly reiterated Marshall’s testimony that he loved his wife and his “undying” love for her. The prosecutor then asked him why were Maria’s ashes still in a box at the funeral home? Marshall’s reply was that they were planning on burying her in Florida, but he got arrested before that could happen.

Marshall had three months since Maria’s funeral until his arrest to at least pick up her ashes from the funeral home. He did not do so and he had gone to Florida by himself in that three months and began a relationship with Karen Odell. Karen and her husband had lived in Toms River prior to moving to Florida and had been friends with the Marshalls.

The Verdict

Prosecutor Kelly stated in his closing arguments, “but the defendant is a coward, he’s self-centered, he’s greedy, he’s desperate, he’s materialistic, and he’s a liar.” On March 5, 1986, Robert O Marshall was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. This was determined after a 25 minutes penalty phase hearing two days later.

Larry Thompson was acquitted as being the actual shooter and walked free after the judge read the verdicts.

2002

Robert O Marshall published a book entitled Tunnel Vision:  Trial & Error. It was his attempt to show that he was not guilty of the crime he was convicted of and how he was framed.

New Sentencing 

After spending 18 years on New Jersey’s death row Robert O Marshall was resentenced. This was due to a federal court decision regarding ineffective counsel in his 1986 trial. Marshall was sentenced to 30 years with eligibility for parole in 2006.

He was in fact granted a parole board hearing that was scheduled for March 18, 2015. Marshall, however, was not able to meet with the 15 member parole board. He died in South Wood State Prison in Bridgeton, NJ on Saturday, February 24th from natural causes. Marshall was 75. He never admitted his guilt or showed any remorse for his actions only stating that he had “made mistakes”

The question remains who shot Maria Marshall?  

Larry N. Thompson

In 2014, Larry Thompson was 71 years old.  He had served 12 years on a 50-year sentence in Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for a 2003 armored car robbery and his part in the attempted murder of a Shreveport police officer. He admitted to his part in the Maria Marshall murder and confessed to being the actual shooter.

Due to the double jeopardy rule, Thompson cannot be prosecuted again. Double Jeopardy is a rule in the US Constitution that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime after a verdict of not guilty has been rendered by a jury or judge.

But what about the defense witnesses who testified that Thompson was with them on the day of the shooting in Louisiana? Thompson’s son Brian had testified that it was his father who took him to the dentist in Louisiana the day of the shooting. Thompson’s wife, Wanda, had also testified that Larry had taken their son to the dentist that day.

A receipt from the dentist’s office that day had been made out to Larry Thompson. Both have since admitted that they lied, but the statute of limitations for perjury in New Jersey is only five years. Apparently, this was been devised while he was in jail in New Jersey awaiting trial.

Thompson Confesses

Thompson confessed to his role in the murder in an interview with James A. Churchill. He was the former lieutenant in charge of Maria Marshall’s murder investigation.  When Churchill retired he was the chief of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

James Churchill was in Shreveport to assist local authorities in a cold case investigation from 1979 in which a woman, Deanna Elliot Montgomery, had been murdered on January 1, 1979. Her murder had striking similarities to Maria Marshall’s case. Deanna was sitting in the passenger seat of a car that was being driven by her husband, James Haywood Montgomery when Thompson fired a single shotgun blast into the car.

This murder took place in Caddo Parish. Parish is what counties are called in Louisiana.

Montgomery and Thompson were friends and police believed at the time that they were both involved, but couldn’t prove it. Montgomery had taken out a life insurance policy on his wife and $15,000 of that would go to Thompson for the hit.

In 2016, Thompson was sentenced to 21 years in prison as part of a plea agreement he reached with the Caddo District Attorney’s office for manslaughter. He admitted to executing Deanna after being paid to do so by her husband. The husband was sentenced to a five-year sentence with time served in March 2016 for manslaughter.

How the Montgomery Murder Came to Light

In May 2013, James Montgomery was charged with aggravated rape of a family member. That charge was dismissed that same day after he entered into the plea arrangement regarding his wife’s murder. Authorities would not say why they dropped the rape charges.

Thompson never got his payment of $15,000. InsteadMontgomery gave him a Dodge Van and a four-wheel-drive truck, that Thompson later returned. During this time Thompson confessed to two more murders. One in DeSoto Parish in Louisiana and one in Harrison County, Texas.

The Boys

Roby Marshall met Tracey Gold through Joanna Kernes, who had portrayed Maria Marshall in the tv miniseries, Blind Faith. Roby was serving as a consultant on the miniseries. They married in October 1994 and have four sons.

Chris Marshall served as the Lehigh Varsity Swim coach for a time. He was also the Cornell University Senior Vice President of Alumni Affairs. Eventually he opened his own consulting firm for guidance, planning, and strategies for alumni relations.

Not much is know about John Marshall except that he was a staunch supporter of his father and supported him in his appeals process.

Resources

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