Werner/Manzie - The Tragic Results of Being in the Closet
This article came to my attention when I was recently investigating the 1997 murder in New Jersey of the 11-year old boy by the 15-year old. It appeared in the newspaper in Asbury Park NJ in the middle of the trial which went on during 1998.
Updated 5/29/98
I frankly wish I did not even have to discuss this tragic incident, but it
is in the news and it is happening now. I won't go into all the details but will give
links for more information for those that are not informed as to what happened. But
this is a perfect example of what can happen and what does happen when a society
tries to enforce it's will without consideration of the ramifications of it's
actions.
One of the results of the Megan law which the congress recently passed was
that all convicted pedophiles and sexual offenders around the country were
required to register with the police. Each state was to enact their own versions of this law, all for the purpose of protecting the innocent public and especially innocent children.
This is all well and good, but New Jersey went further, it required that
psychologist and social workers should report any instances of child abuse to them,
regardless of whether this broke patient confidentiality.
In September of this past year, the papers were publishing the story of a
missing 11 year old student, Eddie Werner, that had disappeared while selling
wrapping paper for a school fund raising event in his own neighborhood. Later the
papers reported that the boy's strangled body had been found in woods near his home.
The following day, they reported that a 15 year old boy, Sam Maznzie, also
from the neighborhood had been arrested for his murder.
Then the story started to unravel and it turned out to be one of the most
blatant cases of ineptitude on the part of government officials. It seems that the
14 year old Sam Manzie was a gay youth trying to come to terms with his sexuality.
Not knowing anyone, he got unto an adult discussion forum on AOL and got into conversations with among no other a Mr. Simmons. He made arrangements to meet
this Mr. Simmons for sexual purposes. Mr. Simmons, it was later revealed was
a convicted pedophile. When Sam Manzies parents found out about the contacts
between their son and the man, they tried to have them break it off. At this
point Sam's only contact with the gay world was this pedophile. He became more and
more rebellious towards his parents. So they carried him to a psychologist
for counselling. Sam admitted his sexual liaisons with the pedophile to the
therapist, who then went to the authorities as required by the law.
This then brought in the authorities from three different jurisdictions to
interrogate and convince Sam and his family to cooperate in a sting operation to catch Simmons. Mind you this involved three different groups grilling Sam Manzie
over and over about his most intimate relations with this pedophile. Is it any
wonder that Sam became convinced he was as guilty as the pedophile. Over a period
of a month or so they had his computer and phones taped and recorded each and
every conversation and contact, all for the purpose of allowing the authorities to
gather enough evidence for a prosecution.
Meanwhile Sam was being torn between his sexual (other?) feeling towards
Simmons, the only one with which he had ever been intimate, and what was
being demanded of him by the authorities. It was said that they seized his hard
drive at one point to get his intimate correspondence he had made with Simmons and
also ponography he had collected off the Internet. But Sam eventaully snapped,
he destroyed their monitoring equipment, and called Simmons to warn him of the
authorities. The authorities then seized Sam's computer, his only contact
with the outside world and disconnected his telephone line so that he would not be
able to contact Simmons again. Sam became ever more violent with his parents, so
they had him institutionalized for evaluation. The doctors said he needed to be
treated, but the Manzies could not come up with their own funds and the law required
a hearing for him to be committed. He was brought to a Judge that evidently
knew nothing of the case, and a case worker, that only visited him once before
the hearing, recommend that he be sent home. The Manzies not knowing the system,
did not bring any information from the other Doctors that had been treating their
son. Instead of sympathy and understanding from the Judge they got a lecture
about them being responsible for their son, and the Judge even asked Sam
himself if he was sick. Copies of this whole proceeding are available for reading.
The Judge then refused to put Sam in an Institution and sent him home with his
parents. The parents said they thought that their son was getting better, as he seemed calm before the tragedy happened. They had a previous scheduled Group Tour to
Atlantic City which is how they made extra income. They said that they planned on
his trip to help them get additional medical help for their son. They left him home
all day with his sister. But she had to leave for 4 hours.
It was during this time that young Werner came to Manzie's door selling paper.
He was invited in, and what happened has not been relayed in detail. But apparently
he was knocked unconscious and sexually assaulted by Manzie, and at some point
Manzie strangled the young boy. He hid his body for a day or two in a case,
and carried the body outside across the street under the cover of darkness where
the authorities found it the next day.
Here was a double tragedy, a young 11 year old boy dead, bu why? Would Manzie
have ever done this, if the authorities had not been pressuring him to cooperate?
Their whole approach in using Manzie was as if he was as guilty as the
pedophile Simmons. And Simmons had been prosecuted and jailed before, and was not a
U.S. citizen. What was he still doing the the U.S.? Had the Judge done his
job correctly Manzie would have been receiving the treatment that he needed before
that tragedy happened not after.
The aftermath, shows even more why our system is broken. The prosecutor has now
(in 1998) said that he intends to try Manzie as an Adult for murder, which could
keep him in prison for life. The prosecutor was just elected to office two weeks
before the murder, running on a platform of being tougher on Juvenile Crime. This
same prosecutor's office is one of the authorities that has since convicted Simmons and used Manzie for their own purposes. (Note from PT : Now, seven years later, the system runs the very same way.) Meanwhile Manzie is suicidal, he would gladly kill himself if given the opportunity.
He is on medication, and may never be able to fit into society again. The
people in New Jersey are up in arms against Manzie, not the authorities that caused
this murder. They are holding a very sick kid responsible for being the monster
that they created.
The latest hypocritical developments is that even though the Werner family has been pubically calling for the prosecution of Manzie as an Adult. They are now talking about possibly suing the authorities at some point for having caused this whole
tragedy. (Note from PT: In fact, the Werners did file suit against the Mainze parents and others; they later dropped their suit.) The Judge has postponed the hearing to determine if Manzie will be tried as an Adult until March, at which time the defense hopes it will able to present testimony on Manzie's insanity.
This whole tragic story really makes me sick and mad from beginning to end,
there is homophobia all over the actions of the authorities, there is vengeance
all over the motives of the public and the Werner family. Meanwhile we wait to see if
this gay kid will be another physical victim of this tragedy. When will
compassion and understanding be a part of our government? This is mindless and senseless. The greatest benefit I've gained from this is having meet a few very caring individuals that completely understand what it's all about. Even a Doctor in Russia, has come forward with his moral support for the Manzie family.
Most recently the impatient District Attorney has asked the Judge to set a
date for hearing on whether or not young Manzie will be tried as an Adult or
Juvenile. The results of this is that Manzie will be tried as an Adult. Because according to his attorney he can not be rehabilited by the time he reaches the age of 19, he is too ill. This is a requirement of New Jersey law. Another example of justice being corrupted in the name of vengence. The laywers hope to prove the kid was insane at the time of the crime.
Well the lastest is that young Manzie will be tried as an Adult because the laywers said they could not guarantee that he could be rehabilitated by the time he is 19.
Now what kind of logic is behind that law, if any? Manzie has also be moved to an
adult facility for unstated reasons. The lawyer has refuted the charges that
Manzie groped a 13 year old boy while in the Juvenile facility as a total lie. And
it appears that the next court hearing will be in August.
I've put some links below for those that wish to read more about it. One
which I would suggest is the essay that young Manzie wrote on Friendship while in
Catholic school. This is why our young people need a caring and educated process in
order to safely come out of their closets. When they are left on their own and
have to turn to pedophiles to learn who they are, we can expect tragedies like these
to occur again. Our schools allow harassment and homophobia to run rampant all
over this country. Until all of our kids are safe to be who they are, no kid
in this country can said to be truly safe. As our society is becoming more open
about homosexuality, there will be more kids coming out. And these issues will be
seeing more and more attention. One solution which I recommend is an organization called GLSEN, for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
It was set up to combat homophobia in the schools and to help provide educational
information to the various school systems around the country. Unfortunately it is
not every where yet, but it is growing, and where it has started it's work
it has been very successful. Your comments on this subject are welcome.
With the above article, I did not find the links referred to but if you use Google search under "werner manzie" you should find more details. It was quite a controversial news item when the murder occurred in 1997 and throughout 1998.
Updated 5/29/98
I frankly wish I did not even have to discuss this tragic incident, but it
is in the news and it is happening now. I won't go into all the details but will give
links for more information for those that are not informed as to what happened. But
this is a perfect example of what can happen and what does happen when a society
tries to enforce it's will without consideration of the ramifications of it's
actions.
One of the results of the Megan law which the congress recently passed was
that all convicted pedophiles and sexual offenders around the country were
required to register with the police. Each state was to enact their own versions of this law, all for the purpose of protecting the innocent public and especially innocent children.
This is all well and good, but New Jersey went further, it required that
psychologist and social workers should report any instances of child abuse to them,
regardless of whether this broke patient confidentiality.
In September of this past year, the papers were publishing the story of a
missing 11 year old student, Eddie Werner, that had disappeared while selling
wrapping paper for a school fund raising event in his own neighborhood. Later the
papers reported that the boy's strangled body had been found in woods near his home.
The following day, they reported that a 15 year old boy, Sam Maznzie, also
from the neighborhood had been arrested for his murder.
Then the story started to unravel and it turned out to be one of the most
blatant cases of ineptitude on the part of government officials. It seems that the
14 year old Sam Manzie was a gay youth trying to come to terms with his sexuality.
Not knowing anyone, he got unto an adult discussion forum on AOL and got into conversations with among no other a Mr. Simmons. He made arrangements to meet
this Mr. Simmons for sexual purposes. Mr. Simmons, it was later revealed was
a convicted pedophile. When Sam Manzies parents found out about the contacts
between their son and the man, they tried to have them break it off. At this
point Sam's only contact with the gay world was this pedophile. He became more and
more rebellious towards his parents. So they carried him to a psychologist
for counselling. Sam admitted his sexual liaisons with the pedophile to the
therapist, who then went to the authorities as required by the law.
This then brought in the authorities from three different jurisdictions to
interrogate and convince Sam and his family to cooperate in a sting operation to catch Simmons. Mind you this involved three different groups grilling Sam Manzie
over and over about his most intimate relations with this pedophile. Is it any
wonder that Sam became convinced he was as guilty as the pedophile. Over a period
of a month or so they had his computer and phones taped and recorded each and
every conversation and contact, all for the purpose of allowing the authorities to
gather enough evidence for a prosecution.
Meanwhile Sam was being torn between his sexual (other?) feeling towards
Simmons, the only one with which he had ever been intimate, and what was
being demanded of him by the authorities. It was said that they seized his hard
drive at one point to get his intimate correspondence he had made with Simmons and
also ponography he had collected off the Internet. But Sam eventaully snapped,
he destroyed their monitoring equipment, and called Simmons to warn him of the
authorities. The authorities then seized Sam's computer, his only contact
with the outside world and disconnected his telephone line so that he would not be
able to contact Simmons again. Sam became ever more violent with his parents, so
they had him institutionalized for evaluation. The doctors said he needed to be
treated, but the Manzies could not come up with their own funds and the law required
a hearing for him to be committed. He was brought to a Judge that evidently
knew nothing of the case, and a case worker, that only visited him once before
the hearing, recommend that he be sent home. The Manzies not knowing the system,
did not bring any information from the other Doctors that had been treating their
son. Instead of sympathy and understanding from the Judge they got a lecture
about them being responsible for their son, and the Judge even asked Sam
himself if he was sick. Copies of this whole proceeding are available for reading.
The Judge then refused to put Sam in an Institution and sent him home with his
parents. The parents said they thought that their son was getting better, as he seemed calm before the tragedy happened. They had a previous scheduled Group Tour to
Atlantic City which is how they made extra income. They said that they planned on
his trip to help them get additional medical help for their son. They left him home
all day with his sister. But she had to leave for 4 hours.
It was during this time that young Werner came to Manzie's door selling paper.
He was invited in, and what happened has not been relayed in detail. But apparently
he was knocked unconscious and sexually assaulted by Manzie, and at some point
Manzie strangled the young boy. He hid his body for a day or two in a case,
and carried the body outside across the street under the cover of darkness where
the authorities found it the next day.
Here was a double tragedy, a young 11 year old boy dead, bu why? Would Manzie
have ever done this, if the authorities had not been pressuring him to cooperate?
Their whole approach in using Manzie was as if he was as guilty as the
pedophile Simmons. And Simmons had been prosecuted and jailed before, and was not a
U.S. citizen. What was he still doing the the U.S.? Had the Judge done his
job correctly Manzie would have been receiving the treatment that he needed before
that tragedy happened not after.
The aftermath, shows even more why our system is broken. The prosecutor has now
(in 1998) said that he intends to try Manzie as an Adult for murder, which could
keep him in prison for life. The prosecutor was just elected to office two weeks
before the murder, running on a platform of being tougher on Juvenile Crime. This
same prosecutor's office is one of the authorities that has since convicted Simmons and used Manzie for their own purposes. (Note from PT : Now, seven years later, the system runs the very same way.) Meanwhile Manzie is suicidal, he would gladly kill himself if given the opportunity.
He is on medication, and may never be able to fit into society again. The
people in New Jersey are up in arms against Manzie, not the authorities that caused
this murder. They are holding a very sick kid responsible for being the monster
that they created.
The latest hypocritical developments is that even though the Werner family has been pubically calling for the prosecution of Manzie as an Adult. They are now talking about possibly suing the authorities at some point for having caused this whole
tragedy. (Note from PT: In fact, the Werners did file suit against the Mainze parents and others; they later dropped their suit.) The Judge has postponed the hearing to determine if Manzie will be tried as an Adult until March, at which time the defense hopes it will able to present testimony on Manzie's insanity.
This whole tragic story really makes me sick and mad from beginning to end,
there is homophobia all over the actions of the authorities, there is vengeance
all over the motives of the public and the Werner family. Meanwhile we wait to see if
this gay kid will be another physical victim of this tragedy. When will
compassion and understanding be a part of our government? This is mindless and senseless. The greatest benefit I've gained from this is having meet a few very caring individuals that completely understand what it's all about. Even a Doctor in Russia, has come forward with his moral support for the Manzie family.
Most recently the impatient District Attorney has asked the Judge to set a
date for hearing on whether or not young Manzie will be tried as an Adult or
Juvenile. The results of this is that Manzie will be tried as an Adult. Because according to his attorney he can not be rehabilited by the time he reaches the age of 19, he is too ill. This is a requirement of New Jersey law. Another example of justice being corrupted in the name of vengence. The laywers hope to prove the kid was insane at the time of the crime.
Well the lastest is that young Manzie will be tried as an Adult because the laywers said they could not guarantee that he could be rehabilitated by the time he is 19.
Now what kind of logic is behind that law, if any? Manzie has also be moved to an
adult facility for unstated reasons. The lawyer has refuted the charges that
Manzie groped a 13 year old boy while in the Juvenile facility as a total lie. And
it appears that the next court hearing will be in August.
I've put some links below for those that wish to read more about it. One
which I would suggest is the essay that young Manzie wrote on Friendship while in
Catholic school. This is why our young people need a caring and educated process in
order to safely come out of their closets. When they are left on their own and
have to turn to pedophiles to learn who they are, we can expect tragedies like these
to occur again. Our schools allow harassment and homophobia to run rampant all
over this country. Until all of our kids are safe to be who they are, no kid
in this country can said to be truly safe. As our society is becoming more open
about homosexuality, there will be more kids coming out. And these issues will be
seeing more and more attention. One solution which I recommend is an organization called GLSEN, for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
It was set up to combat homophobia in the schools and to help provide educational
information to the various school systems around the country. Unfortunately it is
not every where yet, but it is growing, and where it has started it's work
it has been very successful. Your comments on this subject are welcome.
With the above article, I did not find the links referred to but if you use Google search under "werner manzie" you should find more details. It was quite a controversial news item when the murder occurred in 1997 and throughout 1998.
posted by Patrick Townson at 6:05 PM
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