Authors of 'The Charmer' Recount Story of Local Murderer

Following the regularly scheduled meeting of the Fort Lee Historical Society (FLHS) at the Fort Lee Museum Tuesday, co-authors Richard Muti and Charles Buckley addressed FLHS members and friends from the community as the guest speakers of the evening.

The subject was gruesome but enthralling, convicted murderer Robert Reldan. Each author read excerpts from their book The Charmer: The True Story of Robert Reldan. Reldan, now in his 80s, is serving time in Trenton for crimes committed when he was a young man in the 1970s.

Muti and Buckley recounted tales from their book about the long legal process involved in finding Reldan guity of the murders of Susan Heynes and Susan Reeves. These stories were supplemented by the reminiscences of locals in the audience who knew Reldan in their school days and remembered him as a wild and often frighteningly threatening young man. 

The powerful presentation to a packed house at the museum on the subject of Reldan engaged the attention of all and involved interesting speculation on the motives and character of Reldan, who is a disturbing but important part of our local history.