Haunted hayride turns into real horror: From Asbury Park Press archivesErik Larsen, Asbury
Thursday, October 25, 1990 — 36 Years Ago
In Toms River, a mother is plunged into unimaginable grief following the death of her son in a freak accident at a Lakewood Halloween attraction. Brian Jewell, 17, portraying a condemned prisoner on a haunted hayride, became the real-life victim of a noose rigging designed to simulate his character’s execution.
A few miles north in Middletown, another mother is rejoicing. Marine Sgt. Mark T. Ward returned safely to American soil after being held hostage in Baghdad for two months following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait — a standoff that has drawn over 200,000 U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf under Operation Desert Shield and would result in the first Gulf War three months later.
Victim’s Mother Calls Hayride Hanging ‘Senseless’
LAKEWOOD — A preliminary autopsy released yesterday confirmed that 17-year-old Brian Jewell died of asphyxia caused by strangulation during Saturday’s “Haunted Hayride,” though investigators remain uncertain how long he was dead before anyone realized the horror was real.
Lt. Michael R. Murray, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, said Jewell’s neck was not broken, and the state medical examiner’s office in Newark found no other signs of trauma.
A Dover Township resident and junior at Toms River High School South, Jewell was discovered around 8 p.m. Saturday when a tractor driver noticed the teen failed to deliver his customary haunting pitch as the wagon approached the gallows at the Lakewood Riding Center on Cross Street.
Toms River resident Gail Groy, who took the ride around 7:33 p.m. with four children, told investigators Jewell appeared lifeless when her wagon passed 15 minutes before the ride was finally halted.
Groy recalled that a staff worker dressed as a witch announced they would “hear the last words of a man about to hang.” Instead, the spotlight illuminated Jewell hanging limp in a kneeling position, his arms dangling silently.
“I guess we’re not going to hear his speech,” the worker said, and the tractor rolled past.
“The whole situation looked as real as it could be,” Groy said, only realizing the truth after reading news reports the next day. Capt. James A. Churchill said investigators are still probing how many wagons passed the gallows before the seventh tractor of the evening finally stopped.
At her home yesterday, Annette McGowan Jewell pleaded for mandatory safety standards on theatrical stunts:
“There should be a buddy system so in case there is a problem, they can get immediate help,” Jewell said. “Because this was senseless. I don’t want to see this happen to anybody else. God forbid. Children are so precious.”
Middletown Marine Safely Home
NEW YORK — Marine Sgt. Mark T. Ward raised a plastic cup of champagne before banks of television cameras at John F. Kennedy International Airport, toasting his sudden freedom.
“I’m just happy to be home, and I hope everybody else gets home shortly,” said the 25-year-old Middletown native.
Ward arrived around 8:30 p.m. yesterday alongside four other freed Americans. They were part of a 14-member contingent released by Iraqi authorities on medical grounds; Ward was granted exit after appeals regarding his father David’s failing health.
His mother, Joan, and his South African fiancée, Nazlie Otto — whom he had not seen in six months — embraced him at the terminal gate.
Originally assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, Ward was stranded when Iraqi forces overran the capital in August, then detained in Baghdad when his evacuation convoy was blocked from crossing into Jordan.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Haunted hayride turns into real horror: From Asbury Park Press archives
Source: Crime
