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The Serial Killer Who Used His Murder Clothes as a Halloween Costume
John Charles Eichinger Put His Trophies to Practical Use
There aren’t many trick-or-treaters who can say they’ve taken candy from a real-life monster dressed in a Scream costume. But if you were a child knocking on John Charles Eichinger’s door and holding out your Halloween candy bag in a certain neighborhood of Somers Point, New Jersey between 1999 and 2005, you might be able to. Even scarier, the clothes he wore and the knife he was carrying as he handed you your candy had been used in a real life murder.
But no one knew that for six years.
The Murder of a Friend
Jennifer Still and John Eichinger were friends. They played Dungeons and Dragons together. He knew her fiance, Kevin. But, unbenownst to Jennifer, he had been carrying a torch for her. He wanted to be more than friends. And on July 6, 1999, he went over to Jennifer’s house to tell her how he felt. It was two days after her birthday. She had just turned twenty.
Jennifer wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with him. She had no desire to leave her fiance. Eichinger was apparently stunned by Jennifer’s reaction. He couldn’t believe that Jennifer was doing this to him. The romantic relationship he envisioned with Jennifer couldn’t exist only in his mind; how could she betray him like this? Friends later said Jennifer must have been gobsmacked by Eichinger’s sudden ardor because she had never expressed any love interest in her friend whatsoever.
Apparently, Eichinger’s self-described hearbreak quickly morphed into fury. Perhaps Eichinger had sensed the writing on the wall before he talked to Jennifer. At the very least, the fact that he brought a knife to her house suggests he wasn’t really expecting a happy ending. Eichinger later told police that he killed Jennifer because she rejected him.
Here’s how Eichinger described the brutality of the attack that followed:
I had the knife in my hand. I turned away from her for a second and couldn’t believe she was doing that to me. She got real close to me. I thought, ‘You’re ripping my heart out and now you’re getting close to me.’ She put her hand on my shoulder. I turned…
