It was shortly after midnight, around 12.30 a.m. on September 6, 1984, when a driver on the

Garden State Parkway in New Jersey saw a man covered with blood, waving his arms to try to get help.

The driver pulled over near the entrance to the Oyster State Parkway, and the man,

Robert Marshall, told them that his wife had been shot and to call the police. So the people in the

car went to a pay phone, and they called 911. When police got to the scene, they found Robert's wife,

42-year-old Maria Marshall, stretched out across the front seat, back to the car, they found Robert's wife, 42-year-old Maria Marshall,

stretched out across the front seat, face down.

They checked her pulse and pronounced her dead.

Maria had been shot twice in the back.

Rob told police that he and Maria had been driving home to Tom's River from a date night in Atlantic City.

While they were in Atlantic City, they had dinner and gambled at Harris Casino.

He would later tell police that shortly after passing through a toll booth on the Garden State Turnpike,

he felt that one of his tires was low on air.

He pulled into a nearby picnic area and told Maria to pop the trunk. When he leaned down to look at the tire, he noticed another vehicle

nearby, which he said was a dark-colored sedan. Then he felt something. He felt someone hit him

on the head. The next thing he knew, he woke up, and when Rob got to

Maria, he found her in the car dead. The single red rose he had given her for their date night was on the

floorboard. This shocked everyone in the community of Tom's River because Maria Marshall was the picture-perfect mom and wife.

She was beautiful, blonde, and athletic. She and Rob were regulars at the Tom's River Country Club,

which was the center of the local social scene. Maria and Rob had just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.

He presented Maria with one rose for each year of their amazing marriage, and he made a really public display of doing that.

Rob worked hard. Maria stayed at home. They had three sons, 19-year-old Robbie, 18-year-old Christopher, who had been a swimming star in high

...