Charles E. Reddish Jr. is a New Jersey man convicted of murdering two women: Rebecca Wertz, his 43-year-old girlfriend, whom he killed with a hatchet in 1995, and Dede Rosenthal, a 32-year-old staff trainer at a school for autistic children who vanished from her Cherry Hill apartment in 1991. His prosecution for the Rosenthal killing produced a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court ruling on a capital defendant’s right to represent himself at trial.
The 1995 Killing That Led to His Arrest
Reddish was arrested in Burlington Township on October 6, 1995, for the murder of Rebecca Wertz. Prosecutors said he killed her after an argument, striking her as many as 25 times with a hatchet. He then forced Wertz’s 14-year-old daughter to watch the attack before kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl over several hours.1The New York Times. Man Gets Life Terms in Killing and Assault
A jury convicted him in December 1998. Prosecutors sought the death penalty; jurors recommended life. In March 1999, a judge imposed two consecutive life terms, making him ineligible for parole for at least 55 years.1The New York Times. Man Gets Life Terms in Killing and Assault In 2008, a New Jersey Appellate Division panel denied his petition for post-conviction relief in the Wertz case, finding his arguments without merit.2NJ.com. Convicted Killer Denied New Trial
The 1991 Disappearance of Dede Rosenthal
Dede Rosenthal was last seen on Friday, February 22, 1991. She withdrew $80 from an ATM that afternoon and later spoke by phone with a friend and with a man she was dating who worked at her apartment complex, Somerset Towers, in Cherry Hill. She trained staff to work with autistic children at the Elwyn Institute in Vineland and had never before missed work without explanation.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
When she did not appear the following week, coworkers reported her missing on February 27. Police found her apartment unlocked and neat, with no signs of a struggle. Her keys, car, belongings, and cat were all still inside.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243 Despite extensive searches, she was never located.
Reddish’s Confession to the Rosenthal Murder
Five days after his arrest in the Wertz case, on October 11, 1995, Reddish confessed to killing Rosenthal. He told detectives at the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office that he had used his porter’s key at Somerset Towers to reach the roof, swung down onto Rosenthal’s balcony, and entered through an unlocked sliding glass door. According to the prosecution, he was going through her jewelry box when she woke up and screamed.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 2434NJ.com. Cherry Hill Murder to Be Featured on Investigation Discovery
Reddish said he beat Rosenthal until she lost consciousness, then suffocated her, and took $80 from her purse. About two days later, he returned, wrapped the body in a bed sheet and a painter’s tarp, loaded it into a shopping cart, and used his girlfriend’s station wagon to move it to a dredge site in a wooded area near Pedricktown in Salem County. He said the ground was too hard to dig, so he left the body in tall weeds. He also confessed the killing in a recorded phone call with John Knarr, a reporter for the Burlington County Times.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243 Reddish later helped police search for the remains, but Rosenthal’s body was never recovered.
A Murder Trial Without a Body
A Camden County grand jury indicted Reddish in March 1997. After the Wertz conviction, he was re-indicted on two counts: knowing or purposeful murder by his own conduct, and felony murder.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
The guilt-phase trial began September 25, 2001. Lead prosecutor Mary Alison Albright, the Camden County Homicide Section Chief, had to prove murder without remains, without medical examiner testimony, and without a cause of death established by autopsy. Her team called Rosenthal’s friends to testify about her life and character. “Generally in a murder case, you need a body to prove that someone is actually dead,” Albright said. “But in a way, it was liberating because I got to talk about Dede to the jury.”4NJ.com. Cherry Hill Murder to Be Featured on Investigation Discovery
The defense argued that Reddish’s confession was a delusion produced by mental illness and that he had falsely imagined the killing. On October 11, 2001, the jury convicted him on both counts.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
A separate penalty-phase jury was empaneled on June 19, 2002. It found three aggravating factors: Reddish’s prior murder conviction in the Wertz case, that the Rosenthal murder was committed during a felony, and that it was done to escape detection. It also found five mitigating factors, including his cooperation in trying to locate the body, childhood abuse, a history of mental illness and delusions, and his voluntary confession. The jury concluded unanimously that the aggravators outweighed the mitigators beyond a reasonable doubt. On June 26, 2002, Reddish was sentenced to death, along with a consecutive life term on the felony-murder count.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
The New Jersey Supreme Court Reversal
On November 10, 2004, the Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed the Rosenthal convictions and ordered a new trial. The opinion in State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243 (2004), cited multiple errors, including improper admission of other-crimes evidence, faulty jury instructions, insufficient corroboration of the confession, prosecutorial misconduct, and an illegal sentence. The central holding, though, concerned the trial court’s refusal to let Reddish represent himself.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
Under the Sixth Amendment, as construed in Faretta v. California, a criminal defendant may decline counsel and conduct his own defense. The New Jersey court held that this right extends through both the guilt and penalty phases of a capital case. The right is not absolute; it must be balanced against the state’s Eighth Amendment obligation to ensure heightened reliability in death-penalty proceedings, and a defendant’s waiver of counsel must be knowing and voluntary, established through a thorough inquiry by the trial judge.3Findlaw. State v. Reddish, 181 N.J. 243
The decision set out a detailed inquiry trial courts must conduct before accepting a waiver, a framework New Jersey courts now call the “Crisafi/Reddish inquiry.” The ruling also made clear that wrongly denying self-representation is not harmless error: the conviction must be reversed regardless of how the trial otherwise went.5New Jersey Courts. State v. Rose, Docket No. A-4915-16T2
Where the Cases Stand Now
On retrial, the death penalty was no longer available as an outcome. New Jersey abolished capital punishment in December 2007, when Governor Jon Corzine signed legislation replacing death sentences with life without parole.6NPR. New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty According to New Jersey Department of Corrections records cited in 2015, Reddish was ultimately sentenced to 30 to 60 years for the Rosenthal murder, on top of the 30 years to life he was already serving for the Wertz killing.4NJ.com. Cherry Hill Murder to Be Featured on Investigation Discovery