Mid’town man charged with murder
Medical examiner’s report reveals victim
stabbed 11 times

Middletown police investigate a crime scene last week at McGuire’s Grove apartment complex, Middletown.

BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE & JOSH DAVIDSON

Staff Writers

Police are trying to determine why a resident of McGuire’s Grove apartment complex in Middletown allegedly stabbed a maintenance supervisor to death, and then turned the knife on himself.

Stephen J. Condit, 27, 139 Kimberly Court, was charged Feb. 10 with the fatal stabbing of apartment complex maintenance supervisor Darryl L. Smith, 50, of Wallington. Condit has awakened from a medically induced coma in Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, after a failed suicide attempt Feb. 10. Condit is being held on $1 million bail, said Robert A. Honecker Jr., Monmouth County first assistant prosecutor.

Condit was "several months behind on his rent," Honecker said. "At about 9:45 a.m. [Feb. 10], the Middletown Police Department was contacted by an employee of Renaissance Equity [of Little Falls] saying that a local employee of the company, Smith, was supposed to report back to work [at Little Falls] and never did. They said they were concerned for two reasons: Smith was diabetic, and they thought he may have suffered some sort of medical attack; and they knew Smith was supposed to go to Condit’s apartment Monday morning to advise him that he was evicted and to change the locks."

Condit reportedly jammed his apartment locks with putty and liquid nails to prevent anyone from entering.

Smith, the manager of the maintenance crew at complex, lived with his girlfriend and had two children, police said.

Just before police arrived at Condit’s apartment to investigate a report from Renaissance Equity that Smith was missing, authorities said Condit turned the knife on himself.

When Middletown police arrived at the complex, Smith’s truck was parked in front of Condit’s apartment.

Investigating officers "heard music playing and no one answered the door," Honecker said. "They forced the door open and found Smith in the kitchen, lying face down in a pool of coagulated blood.

A further search of the apartment revealed Condit in his bathroom with "multiple stab wounds to his own torso, slash wounds on his wrists consistent with someone trying to kill himself, and at least three stab wounds to his neck. What appeared to be a large kitchen knife was still sticking out of his throat," Middletown Police Chief John Pollinger said. Condit is suspected of using the same kitchen knife on himself that he allegedly used to kill Smith on Monday, Feb. 9.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene by officials, and Condit was semiconscious and lying on his side when police arrived, Pollinger said.

Condit was transported by Medevac helicopter to Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Police said Smith’s truck had been parked in front of Condit’s apartment since Monday. Although some neighbors said they saw Smith’s truck parked there since Sunday, Pollinger said he thought they were mistaken.

Authorities do not know how long Smith lay on the kitchen floor dead, but "Condit’s wounds were relatively recent and probably inflicted just prior to the arrival of police on Tuesday [Feb. 10] morning." Pollinger said.

Witnesses said Condit had holed himself up in the apartment for months, rarely appearing outside, Pollinger said.

Ilona Varga, who lives in apartment 132 at the complex, said she knew Condit and was surprised by the murder.

"We talked occasionally. He was just quiet — the kind of person that kept to himself. And for the last three months he has not come out of his apartment," she said.

Varga said she remembered when Condit moved into his apartment over a year ago.

"He was very talkative," she said. "His friend helped him move in. They were both very nice."

Varga said she noticed Condit became depressed after being charged by police with drunken driving. In September 2002, Middletown police arrested and charged Condit with driving while intoxicated.

When Varga noticed that Condit was spending his time mostly in his apartment, she and her neighbors would knock on his door to see if he was all right, she said. Condit did not answer the door when they would knock.

"I guess he just didn’t want to be bothered," Varga said.

On Feb. 10, before police arrived, Varga said she saw Condit outside of his apartment. He looked thin with large bags under his eyes, she said.

"It’s a shame; he was young," she said. "I really feel bad for him. I feel bad for the man that died too."

Dennis Snow, the complex building superintendent who lives in apartment 21, spoke highly of Smith.

"He was a good guy; he didn’t deserve this," Snow said. "He was happy-go-lucky and always ready with a joke."

Snow said he never spoke to Condit and he misses Smith, whom he worked with frequently.

"He [Smith] was a decent guy. He was always smiling, and he took everything in stride," Snow said.

Smith was cordial with the apartment complex tenants, and he took pride in his work, Snow said.

"Nobody knows what happened; we didn’t know he was going over there [to Condit’s apartment]," Snow said. "I’ve lived in this area my whole life and never heard of anything happening like this."

The last township murder occurred in 1996 allegedly at the hands of a another McGuire’s Grove apartment tenant.

"It is quite a coincidence, an unfortunate coincidence that these two men … lived, at different times, in not only the same apartment complex, but the same building," Pollinger said. "But it is only a coincidence. There is no connection between the two."

Condit was unemployed at the time of the murder but worked at a local business for about three years prior to his unemployment, Pollinger said.

"We believe we have enough evidence to move forward with the charges toward a conviction. We are trying to put witness accounts and evidence together to reconstruct a scene of what we believe happened. … We are still investigating anyone he may have had contact with before or after the crime," Pollinger said.

Police are looking into a possible connection between Smith’s murder and a recent wave of burglaries at the apartment complex.

"Is there a link? I’m not sure," Pollinger said. "But the possibility that the crimes are related does exist. We are exploring every avenue to better understand exactly what happened the day Smith was killed. The burglaries are just one of those avenues."