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Go to videotape

Investigators to view porn tapes belonging to Glen Cove murder suspect to get a sense of his state of mind

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | Newsday Staff Writer

August 22, 2006

Nassau police investigators plan to pore over hours of pornographic VHS tapes once stashed in Evan B. Marshall's closet to delve further into the psyche of an accused psychosexual killer arrested after the decapitation death of his neighbor.

Officers seized numerous boxes containing the tapes from 3 Willada Lane in Glen Cove, where Marshall, 31, lived in his mother's basement. The tapes were in Marshall's "neatly arranged" closet dedicated to the storage of the tapes, sadomasochistic paraphernalia and sex toys, police said.

The tapes are of special interest to investigators, who are looking for more clues and who stand to learn more about Marshall, a bedding salesman, said Sgt. Dennis Barry of Nassau's Homicide Squad.

"Hopefully, it will help us glean some motive," Barry said. "Experience has shown in the past that these individuals will sometimes tape home videos over the movies."

Barry added, "In the midst of [investigators] watching the tapes, they find ... [suspects] will also tape themselves doing things."

Marshall was arrested Friday on a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of Denice Fox, 57, a retired New York City special education teacher.

Police said Marshall, who investigators said never came in contact with Fox before her death, dismembered her with two large carving knives.

Most of Fox's remains were pulled from garbage pails in the basement of the home of Marshall's mother, Jacqueline, who lives two houses away from Fox.

Fox's head was found in a car driven by Evan Marshall.

Jacqueline Marshall has refused to speak to investigators since her son's arrest.

Evan Marshall remained in protective custody yesterday at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow. He was placed on suicide watch after a psychiatric evaluation.

Investigators have yet to receive a copy of that evaluation, Barry said.

By late yesterday, investigators hadn't yet viewed the tapes, which appeared to have professional labeling.

He declined to discuss the titles of the movies.

Gregg McCrary, a former FBI profiler, said scanning the tapes of an accused psychosexual killer could turn up fascinating clues.

"It's not uncommon for them to tape their own crimes," MCrary said. "It's a way they think of hiding it."

In addition to the tapes, officers also confiscated mannequins, sex toys and pornographic magazines from the closet, police said.

"If you opened that door, you couldn't miss it," Barry said. "This was a closet specifically dedicated to this material. There was nothing in the closet but this stuff."

Marshall's mother couldn't be reached at her home yesterday. Fox's husband, Jay Fox, who neighbors said was an accountant, couldn't be reached for comment. The couple have two children and recently moved there, a neighbor said.

Neighbors also said they haven't seen Jacqueline Marshall or any of Fox's relatives since the cul-de-sac was filled with police cars after the grisly basement discovery last week.