Double Date: The Celia Censki Story
— A Southwick Time Machine Original | True Crime Reconstruction
Celia Censki, a native of Suffield, Connecticut, lived with her family at 92 Oak Street in nearby Windsor Locks. She was employed by the Montgomery Company, working in its namesake mill as a machine operator in the department that produced decorative and electric tinsels. Her older brother, Benjamin, also worked at the same facility.
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| Miss Celia Censki |
On Sunday, January 16, 1955, Celia's older sister, Ann, went to the Thompsonville Hotel in Enfield to meet two men from Springfield, Massachusetts: Joseph DeMaio and Gerald Celetti. The hotel was reportedly a place Ann knew well.
Ann met the men around 3:30 p.m. They remained at the hotel until about 5:45 p.m., when DeMaio convinced Ann they should pick up Celia in Windsor Locks for a double date.
After picking up Celia, the four traveled to Springfield and visited some area cafes and nightclubs.
Around 10:30 p.m., Celia said she was ready to go home. The group stopped at the Ringside Restaurant, near the Connecticut state line, in Agawam, Massachusetts. Ann and Celetti remained at the restaurant while DeMaio left with Celia, under the guise of driving her home.
DeMaio returned to the restaurant alone approximately an hour later.
He told Ann and Celetti that Celia had gotten out of the car and disappeared after they went parking near a canal Kelsey Quarry Road in Suffield.
The three returned to the spot to look for Celia, but there was no sign of her. Thinking she may have gone home, they drove to the Censki home.
Ann went inside while DeMaio and Celetti waited in the car. When she came back out to tell the men that Celia was not there, she was surprised to see that they had already left.
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| Joseph C. DeMaio |
Worried, Ann walked to the Windsor Locks police station and recounted the night's events to officers. She then went home and went to bed.
When Ann woke up, she found Celia's bedroom still empty. Fearing the worst, she returned to the police station and reported her sister missing.
Officers in Windsor Locks immediately noticed Suffield authorities.
In Suffield, police had already begun searching after finding several items along the bank of a canal, including a silk stocking, a pair of panties, a gold earring, and part of a brassiere. Some of the clothes appeared to be bloodstained. They also discovered blood on rocks along the canal bank.
Authorities started dragging the five-mile partially frozen-over canal but only got a short distance before thick ice prevented them from going further, and their boats began to freeze in the water. They halted their search around ten that evening, deciding to drain the canal instead, a seven-hour process.
Earlier that afternoon, Connecticut State Police joined the investigation and issued a 16-state alarm describing Celia as a 20-year-old female, 5 feet 6 inches tall, approximately 135 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes.
Authorities identified Joseph C. DeMaio and Gerald J. Celetti as persons of interest. Even though Ann's story primarily implicated DeMaio, police obtained warrants charging both men with assault and attempt to commit rape after finding out that each one had criminal records in Massachusetts: DeMaio had an extensive and growing laundry list of crimes dating back from 1937, while Celetti had a record involving assault and battery.
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| Gerald J. Celetti |
Police released a description of the men, believed to be in their mid-thirties. They also enlisted the help of the FBI.
Officers from Suffield and the Connecticut State Police traveled to Springfield with Ann to search for the two men. They stopped at the Pioneer Valley Construction Company, where DeMaio was employed part-time. They learned that he had not reported for his shift.
Celetti was unemployed, so they visited his residences, where he lived with his pregnant wife and two children. He was not there.
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| Thompsonville Hotel years earlier |
On Tuesday, Suffield police and firemen were still searching the canal with grappling irons, which was almost completely drained, when they pulled Celia's badly bruised, half-nude body from the bottom in about four feet of water approximately 150 feet from where DeMaio's car had been parked.
Upgraded warrants were sought. DeMaio was charged with homicide and Celetti with abetting in a homicide.
That evening, Officer Peter Bianchini, with the New Jersey State Police, noticed out-of-state tags on vehicle traveling down the New Jersey Turnpike near Hightstown. When he saw the driver acting suspicious, he initiated a routine traffic stop. The driver, who had scratches on his face and was visibly shaken, reportedly blurted out, "I didn't mean to do it, officer."
The man was taken into custody and was later identified as Joseph C. DeMaio. It wasn't until they arrived at the police station that the officer found out DeMaio was a wanted man.
Several hours later, Gerald J. Celetti turned himself in at police headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, having hitched a ride there.
DeMaio was held overnight at the Mercer County Jail at Trenton. Officials in the Garden State notified the Suffield Police Department, who sent two officers to pick up the wanted man. They were accompanied by two Connecticut state troopers, to pick up DeMaio's car.
DeMaio had waived extradition to Connecticut in a hearing on Wednesday, January 19, where witnesses said he was downcast and quiet. They said he only responded to the judge by nodding his head up and down after being asked if he would voluntarily return to Connecticut, he responded by slowly nodding his head up and down.
Celetti was also brought back to Connecticut. He was held on $25,000 bond awaiting trial on a charge of assisting a felon in escaping and evading arrest and prosecution.
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| The Montgomery Company's Montgomery Mill, Windsor Locks, Connecticut |
According to an officer who interviewed him, DeMaio said an altercation occurred after Celia resisted his advances and fled. He chased after her and said that when he caught her, she scratched his face and pulled his hair, so he punched her in the face, which caused her to fall to the ground and bleed. DeMaio claimed that he returned to the vehicle to retrieve a handkerchief, and when he turned back around, Celia was gone - having ran off on foot. (A police officer noted that DeMaio had visible bruises and injuries on his face.)
DeMaio was held in the Hartford County Jail without bond pending trial in Hartford Superior Court in April. Celetti was released on bail.
On Thursday morning detectives with the Connecticut State Attorney's Office brought DeMaio back to the scene of the crime. He was heavily guarded by Suffield and Connecticut State Police officers. Detectives remarked that he was cooperative.
Celia Censki's cause of death still had not been determined when her funeral was held on Friday, January 21, 1955. The coroner started an inquest and Celia was laid to rest in the Censki family plot.
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| Ann Censki at her sister's funeral |
On February 2, 1955, after reconstructing the events, the coroner ruled Celia's cause of death as drowning, noting no confirmed rape, but concluded that the events leading to her death began with a violent encounter. The coroner also said that no traces of alcohol were found in Celia's body.
Based on testimony and the corner's inquest, it was believed that Celia resisted DeMaio's advances, and in doing so, he hit her in the face and tried to rape her.
Evidence suggests that in the dark of night, distraught and in unfamiliar territory, Celia ran through the underbrush and fell over a 25-foot-high embankment and into the canal's icy water, where she drowned.
Celetti made various statements about the sequence of events after he and DeMaio dropped Ann off. Much of his story did not add up. But, it appears that after leaving the Censki home, DeMaio and Celetti drove to New Jersey to visit DeMaio's brother and then went to his aunt's house in New York City.
On Tuesday, they read about Celia's death in a late-edition newspaper they picked up in Times Square, and in learning that the police were looking for them, they panicked and hightailed it back to New Jersey, parting ways in Newark.
On May 5, 1955, a judge sentenced DeMaio to 10 to 20 years for manslaughter, thanks in part to Celetti who turned state's witness.
DeMaio’s criminal history extended both before and after the case, including prior burglary convictions and later arrests in Massachusetts in the 1960s involving business break-ins.
Celetti ran for public office as a Democrat in 1951. He was arrested on a probation violation in 1975. He died in Springfield's Mercy Hospital in 1985 following a long illness.
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DeMaio's father was an olive dealer. He murdered a young woman who worked for him in 1938. His son, a witness to the slaying, helped hide the body in an olive barrel. The elder DeMaio paid someone fifteen cents to get rid of the barrel.
The Kelsey-Ferguson Brick Quarry was off of Kelsey Quarry Road (not to be confused with today's Quarry Road), in Suffield (roughly two miles from Windsor Locks??). It changed hands several times - even before it became Kelsey-Ferguson. The site later became a notable shale pit. It was filled in around 1992 and reclaimed by nature.
At the time of his arrest, DeMaio may or may not have lived at 86 Norwood Street, Springfield, Massachusetts.
At the time of his arrest, DeMaio had a pocketknife in his pants.
A handful of officers went to New Jersey to pick up DeMaio - a couple to escort him and a couple to drive his car back.
On December 20, 1945, DeMaio broke into a home in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and stole $1,100.
In 1946, DeMaio and another man broke into Industrial Food Service, Inc. and stole a safe, 15,000 candy bars, and a truck. Sources conflict with some saying that a judge sent him to prison for 3 to 5 years and other say say 6 to 14 years. Six to 14 appears correct.
On November 22, 1954, DeMaio received a six-month suspended sentence for assault and battery.
Sources conflict if DeMaio was pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike or Route 32. It appears that the NJ Turnpike near Route 32 is correct.
DeMaio is believed to have been released from prison by 1966 - when he was arrested for breaking into businesses in Springfield and stealing safes.
At some point, Celetti may or may not have been a bartender at the Thompsonville Hotel. It is believed that he was unemployed at the time of Celia's death. Some sources say he worked construction with DeMaio.
Ringside was near Riverside Park. Located at 1815 Main Street, it was on the left if heading into Suffield, Connecticut from Agawam, Massachusetts. (Not be confused by The Ringside Club Restaurant at the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds or the Ringside Restaurant at 112 Spring Street in Thompsonville.)
It is believed that Ann died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2016. At the time of her death, no one came forward to claim her body.
Celia's father, Frank, was born in Poland.
St. Mary's Church was about a block away from the Censki home.
Benjamin got married on December 31, 1955.
Benjamin F. Censki: January 8, 1930 - May 17, 1998
Celia had four brothers: Stephen Cesenszki (stepbrother??), Benjamin Censki, John Censki (stepbrother??), and Frank Censki, Jr. and three sisters: Helen (stepsister??), Ann, and Stella (stepsister).
Some family trees seem to confuse Helen and Ann - probably because Helen's middle name was Ann.
Stephen (and his friend Walter Giesocki) were arrested on September 6, 1934, after leading police on a wild chase in Springfield. Stephen was behind the wheel as the stolen car raced through the downtown business district.
Stella Censki was an honor student.
The long abandoned Montgomery Mill was converted into apartments.
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