True Crime
Ocean County prosecutors charged Chelsea Villano with falsely incriminating the boyfriend she said burned her in the Pine Barrens.
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, that Chelsea Villano, 33, of Eatontown, faces two counts of falsely incriminating another. Justin D. Martin, 36, had been charged Oct. 16 with attempted murder and aggravated arson after she said he tried to burn and kill her in Plumsted Township. He was released from jail Oct. 19.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer · · Updated
This is a reversal, not a resolution. A week ago Martin was the one charged. Now prosecutors say the account that put him in jail was false, and the woman who gave it is the one charged. Prosecutors have not said how she was burned. Her two counts are accusations, and a charge is not a conviction.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, that Chelsea Villano, 33, of Eatontown, N.J., was charged with two counts of falsely incriminating another in connection with an Oct. 15 incident in Plumsted Township, The Monmouth Journal, Jersey Shore Online and Patch reported. Patch reported the prosecutor's office said Justin D. Martin, 36, of Saddle Brook, the boyfriend she had accused, has been cleared. The Asbury Park Press reported the attempted murder and arson charges against him were dropped. Jersey Shore Online reported authorities had not announced whether the charges against Martin had been formally dismissed.
According to the prosecutor's office, Plumsted Township police and emergency medical services responded at about 1:36 p.m. on Oct. 15 to a wooded area near Hawkin Road and Success Road, in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area, after a 911 call about a woman with burns. Patch reported she was intubated and flown to the Temple University Burn Center in Philadelphia. The prosecutor's office said she was treated there and released days later.
Prosecutors said that during the initial investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit and New Jersey Conservation Police, Villano claimed that while she, Martin and another person were in the woods, her boyfriend tried to burn and kill her. Martin was charged Oct. 16 with attempted murder and aggravated arson. Detectives found him in Asbury Park at about 12:15 a.m. that day and took him to the Ocean County Jail without incident. He was released Oct. 19. One outlet listed Martin's hometown as Saddle River; Patch and Jersey Shore Online reported Saddle Brook.
"Further investigation has revealed that Villano provided false information to law enforcement about how she sustained her injuries and who caused her injuries," the prosecutor's office said. Patch and Jersey Shore Online reported that prosecutors did not say how she was burned. Villano was taken into custody at Eatontown Police Headquarters and was being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing. The prosecutor credited the Major Crime Unit, New Jersey Conservation Police, Plumsted police, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office, and the Asbury Park, Eatontown and Keansburg police departments, along with the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office.
The false-incrimination counts are accusations, not findings. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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