Retiree's bail set on murder charge

LINWOOD - A Superior Court judge set bail yesterday at $2 million for the man accused of stabbing to death an 88-year-old woman at an Atlantic County retirement village.

Anthony Milano, 65, who lived in a second-floor unit at the Village of Linwood for the last three years, was charged Thursday by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office with murdering Catherine "Sissy" McGowan, his downstairs neighbor.

Milano was transferred yesterday to a state-run mental-health facility in West Trenton, where he will undergo a psychiatric examination. He appeared before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge James E. Isman via audio feed for a brief bail hearing. Setting the amount at $2 million, Isman indicated the bail is full cash, no bond, and no property may be posted.

Milano also is charged with aggravated assault after allegedly attacking McGowan and her daughter, Diane Nehmad, 60, of Egg Harbor Township, around 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Another neighbor, Eugene Pepper, 84, heard the struggle and hurried to help the two women and was also stabbed.

Nehmad and Pepper remained in AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City yesterday.

McGowan was pronounced dead at the scene. She had suffered a number of sharp-force injuries, bruises, and cuts to the back of the head, according to Atlantic County Medical Examiner Hydow Park.

Police recovered a large folding knife at the scene.

Officers had been called to Milano's address more than a dozen times over the last few months, and McGowan and two other neighbors had recently signed harassment complaints in Linwood Municipal Court against him. Neighbors said Milano thought the people living near him in the condo complex were microwaving and burning him through his walls and floor, and he often screamed at passersby and banged loudly on his walls and doors.

He was scheduled to appear in municipal Court Thursday night on the charges.

Neighbors said McGowan was so afraid of Milano's erratic behavior that she had recently been staying at her daughter's home. She had returned with her daughter Thursday to retrieve some of her belongings from the condo.

"It all seems like a bad dream," said Elaine Nothe, who has lived in the over-55 complex for about 10 years and who was friendly with McGowan.

"She was the nicest, sweetest lady, and she certainly didn't deserve what horrible things happened to her. It's hard to believe it happened here."

But experts contend that problems with aggression are just as possible in an age-restricted condo complex as in any other community.

The key is identifying it and providing treatment before the behavior turns violent, according to Stave Maag, director of assisted living and continuing care for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

The association is a Washington organization representing 6,000 nonprofit providers of senior services across the country.

"My experience has been that you are dealing with a population that's beginning to have problems with cognitive functions and different behaviors," Maag said. "It's a judgment call when behavior becomes an overt threat, when there's a potential for danger. You have to be careful how you deal with these things."

Working with families and physicians and providing mental-health screenings and psychiatric assistance can be an effective way to head off problems, Maag said.

"People who run retirement communities are pretty attuned to that - they're fairly well versed in behavioral issues," he said. "But retirement communities without staff are no different from any other community where someone is threatening."

At the Village at Linwood, some activities, such as gardening and card clubs, are organized, but residents are pretty much left to their own devices otherwise, according to Gil Finkelstein, president of the community's board of directors.

"If people want to get involved in the social activities that we offer, they are welcome to," Finkelstein said. "If they don't, there is probably little to no interaction with neighbors in the community."