Gunshots rung out in Bridgewater on Friday, March 1, 1996.
Frances Tormasi, 39, of the Bradley Gardens section of the township, was shot multiple times at close range and killedin the driveway of the home of her estranged husband, Attila Tormasi Sr.,in the Martinsville section of the township.
The Tormasi's son, Walter, 16, was charged on Monday, March 4, 1996.
Here's a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.
5 years ago
March 2, 2016: After Day 1 of Blind Auditions on "The Voice," Mike Schiavo, of the Colonia section of Woodbridge, was on Team Adam on the reality show, "The Voice."
March 2: Angelo Dimeglio of Lawrenceville, president of Caliper Farms Nursery in Belle Mead,pleaded guilty to income tax evasion in connection with failing to report more than $1.6 million in income.
March 2: After dropping its 17th straight contest, the Rutgers men's basketball team eclipsed the bleakest season in modern program history, losing to Michigan State, 97-66.
March 2: Tony Award-winning writer and lyricist Rupert Holmes, dropped by to talk to the cast of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School production of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."
March 3: Forty fox hounds escaped injury at a barn fire at the Essex Hunt Club, 48 Holland Road, in Peapack-Gladstone.
March 5: As part of a community effort in Plainfield, more than 500 cases of bottle water were scheduled to arrive in Flint, Michigan, where the drinking water had become contaminated with lead.
March 7: Bruce Sterling, 45, of New Brunswick, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for breaking into a woman's home and sexually assaulting her.
10 years ago
March 1, 2011: A federal grand jury issued a seven-count indictment against Thach Van "Michael" Nguyen, 33, of Wall, and four Philadelphia area men accused of the January 2010 assault and robbery of a Bridgewater spa owner in his Pocono mountains home.
March 1: A 21-year-old Rutgers student was shot in the ankle in New Brunswick, police said, the result of a drug deal gone wrong.
March 2: Police continuedto investigate a double stabbing of two Dunellen residents at Billian Legion Park in Bound Brook on Sunday, Feb. 27, in what authorities called a "preplanned fight." Both victims remained hospitalized on Tuesday, March 1.
March 3: More than 20 years after the killing of 15-year-old Nikki Adams of New Brunswick, a Middlesex County grand jury indicted Steven Parkey Jr., 40, of New Brunswick, on charges stemming from Adams' death.
March 5: Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding brought her jazzy explorations to Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway.
March 7:In the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV final, the Linden High School boys basketball team beat Piscataway, 62-35, capturing the sectional title.
1996
March 1, 1996: Richard J. Chippero, 28, received two life sentences for the rape and murder of his New Brunswick neighbor, 39-year-old Ermina Rose Tocci on Tuesday, July 23, 1991.
March 2: Owners and patrons of Time Out Sports & Grille, a controversial new go-go bar in Manville, said those who are upset with the business should exercise their right to stay out.
March 2: A Gray Line bus, returning to New York City from Atlantic City, careened off a guard rail and overturned on the Garden State Parkway in Old Bridge, killing one and injuring 35.
March 3: George Cardenas, 11, a fifth-grader at Our Lady of Peace School in the Fords section of Woodbridge, helped five members of his family escape from a house fire in Woodbridge.
March 4: Standout forward for the Rutgers soccer team Hamisi Amani-Dove, was drafted by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars of Major League Soccer.
March 4: Madija Bauer, the estranged wife of Jeffrey L. Bauer, 48, publisher of the Westfield Leader and The Times of Scotch Plains and Fanwood, shot and killed him with a .357 Magnum in his office, and then killed herself.
March 7: Edward Leary, 50, of Scotch Plains, was convicted of attempted murder, assault and other charges. Leary had fire-bombed two subway trains around Christmastime 1994.
1971
March 2, 1971: Bail was set for $150,000 for Ira Peczenik, charged with murder in the holdup at the Pathmark distribution center in Woodbridge on Thursday, Jan. 28, 1971.
March 3: Bound Brook, paced by a 38-point performance by Fred Muniz as he went over the 1,000 career point mark, beat visiting Somerville 91-68 in a high school basketball game.
March 4: Woodbridge Center, dubbed the world's largest regional enclosed shopping mall, including more than 100 stores, opened in Woodbridge.
March 5: Mick Jagger announced The Rolling Stones were moving from England to the French Riviera, but denied the group was breaking up or retiring.
March 5: Teachers in Piscataway's public schools went out on strike to protest a breakdown in negotiations with the Board of Education for the next year's contract.
March 5: Former President Lyndon B. Johnson led a list of political and business figures who crowded into St. Mary's Abbey in Morris Township to pay their respects to millionaire industrialist Charles W. Engelhard of Far Hills, who died Tuesday, March 2, 1971, in Florida.
March 7: Dr. Jean W. Day, a 40-year-old Rutgers University professor was found dead in her home in Piscataway after she had been struck in the head several times with an unknown instrument.
1921
March 1, 1921: While driving from South River to New Brunswick, Jacob Shlarew, was attacked and beaten by five men near the Weston's Mill bridge.
March 2: Believed to have been of incendiary origin, a fire practically destroyed the Watchung public school building, on Fisher Avenue, in Middlesex Borough.
March 3: After remaining out for nearly three hours, the jury which tried John Nelson of North Brunswick Township in the County Court on a charge of manslaughter reported they were unable to agree upon a verdict and they were ordered discharged.
March 4: James Trimineri, his wife, Angelina, and their son, Joseph, all of Samptown, near Dunellen, were jointly indicted by the Middlesex County Grand Jury for the murder of Henry Kouhoupt, their next door neighbor, on Saturday, Feb. 19, 1921.
March 4: The Bound Brook High School boys' basketball quintet hung up its sixth successive victory when it defeated the South Amboy High quintet in Bound Brook, 52-18.
March 5: PlainfieldMayor Charles E. Loizeaux formally opened Plainfield's second Automobile Show, under the auspices of the Plainfield Automobile Trades Association at the exposition building at 421 Park Ave. in Plainfield.
March 5: Joseph J. McCormick, a Westfield policeman who killed James Dooling, a Garwood hotel keeper, on Christmas morning, 1920, was arraigned and sentenced to a term of 12 to 30 years in State Prison.
Email: bwadlow@gannettnj.com
Brad Wadlow is Community Content Specialist for MyCentralJersey.com.
