Freeholders Pass Resolution to Keep Murderer Behind Bars

The Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously passed a resolution asking that the New Jersey State Parole Board deny parole for Christopher Righetti.

Righetti is eligible for parole on April 16, nearly 36 years after he killed Kim Montalero, a 20-year-old New Milford resident who he kidnapped from the  on Aug. 31, 1976, brutally raped and stabbed to death in a secluded area of the Pine Lake Swim Club in Washington Township. Righetti was found guilty and given a life sentence. 

Righetti, a Northern State Prison inmate whom officials said has the word "animal" tattooed on his body, is a champion prison powerlifter who can squat 1,000 pounds. He was denied parole in 2009 and declared ineligible until 2022.

Assemblyman Robert Schroeder, whose grass roots group Keep NJ Safe was initially founded in 2009 to keep Righetti behind bars, reached out to the Freeholder Board to again pass a resolution urging the parole board to deny his parole. 

The resolution comes about as a result of a loophole in the law. In January 2010, the state Legislature passed two bills during its lame-duck session under Gov. Jon Corzine, mandating that inmates who have been denied parole receive a new parole hearing every three years. The bills, A4201 and A4202, called for a panel to review prisoners who had served 20 years or more on their sentences.

Although these laws have since been repealed, Righetti "fell between the cracks." Each time that Righetti has come up for parole, the parents of Kim Montelaro have had to travel from their home in Florida to press the state to keep Righetti locked away.

In a letter dated March 14, Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan asked the N.J. State Parole Board to deny parole for Righetti "not just for the pain of the Montelaro family, but the safety of all of Bergen County's families."

has been a driving force in mobilizing the signature drive for Schroeder's online petition to keep Righetti behind bars. The petition currently has over 2,400 signatures.