NEW JERSEY GIRL MURDERS 1960-1980
Case Histories in Chronological Order

 [Home Page] [ Switch to Geo-Forensic Map ] [ Open Geo-Forensic in New Window ]

Note: unsolved case details provided here are mostly based on contemporary news media reports.
Sophie Olejnik

Sophie Olejnik, 14
1963 June 2  
    Hillsborough, Somerset County, NJ

Cause of death: forcible drowning.  

Forensic characteristics:  abducted or ambushed - killed in the vicinity of the encounter - on rural road and bush terrain - found facedown in six-inches of water on bank of creek - mud and sand found in mouth - clad in orange blouse ripped open in front -  peddle-pusher/toreador style pants partly pulled down - no penetrative rape reported or determined -  walked or forced through bush on footpath from road to creek - drowned forcibly by head being held in mud and creek - purse found on the opposite bank of the creek with contents intact - Sunday afternoon.

Sophie Olejnik,14, June 2, 1963 departed her home at 49 N. 11th Avenue, Manville, Somerset County to attend an afternoon dance at the Polish Falcons Camp.. Last seen 2:30 walking on Champlain and turning south down Sunnymeade Road the Polish Falcon Camp on Falcon Road, approximately 1.2 miles away.

Found June 8, 1963 face down in six inches of water in Royces Brook, according to newspaper "200 yards upstream from Sunnymeade Road" and "600-800 yards south of where last seen at Champlain Road,  Hillsborough, N.J.

Eleanor Sophia Lynch

Eleanor Sophia Lynch (Grosshans), 28
1964 Jan 13    372 Mount Prospect Ave, Newark, Essex County, NJ

Cause of death:  "Multiple stab wounds to both sides of chest, penetrating both lungs; bi-lateral hemo thorax, stab wound of lower back penetrating Liver, Hemo Peritoneum." (Dr. Edwin Albano Chief ME Essex County)

Forensic characteristics:  victim abducted shortly after 12:30 a.m. from place of work (motel office) -  transported in perpetrator's vehicle to a second location.

Eleanor Sophia Lynch, 28, was found Monday 7:00 a.m. at 372 Mount Prospect Ave, Newark, Essex County, N.J. Cromwell Terrace Apartments, in the basement boiler room. She was face down on the floor - 62 stab wounds to chest, back and side inflicted by 2-and-a-half-inch pocket-knife blade  The door to basement and boiler room was usually kept unlocked according to the custodian who discovered her body.  Time of death was estimated at 4:00 a.m.

POSSIBLY STAGED TO APPEAR LIKE A SEXUAL HOMICIDE REPORTED IN TRUE CRIME MAGAZINES EXTENSIVELY IN THAT PERIOD:  CONTACT US FOR INQUIRIES OR WITH INFORMATION

Employed as desk clerk at Dixie Motel on Route 1 in Woodbridge where she was last seen early Monday morning 12:30 a.m. at next-door diner. Remnants of take-out dinner found on desk in motel office along with the victim's purse with identification.  Her car found in parking lot at motel. $93 and a TV set missing from motel - night of Sunday-Monday.  

Resided at 153 Cooper Street, Iselin, Woodbridge, NJ.  Separated. Mother of three. Identified by her father Alfred Grosshans, Union NJ, and Mrs. Anna Foley a co-employee.  Estranged husband Edward Lynch, 29, determined to have been living in California since October 1963 and residing there at the time of the murder at 3359 Canyon Crest Drive, Altadena, California.   Case oddly under-reported in newspapers.



Anne and Mae Rubenstein

Anne Rubenstein, 41 & Mae Rubenstein, 12   [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ]
1965 February 13    437 South Third Ave in Highland Park, Middlesex County, NJ

Cause of death:
child Mae stabbed 15 times with death caused by severing the jugular vein; Anne stabbed 35 times stab wound to the left chest heart causing death

Forensic characteristics:  double murder - in home -  no penetrative sexual assault reported - no theft -Stabbing - female child 12 years-old initial victim found in kitchen - mother found in entryway. Victims murdered in home.  Saturday afternoon murder. 

Mae Rubenstein was left alone in house while mother Anne was shopping. Anne was slain in the front foyer leading to the bedroom when she returned home probably after Mae was murdered in the kitchen. Victims were stabbed in the neck, face and chest by a long-bladed kitchen knife. Anne was still wearing heavy wool coat and groceries were found on the floor by her. Scuffle marks were visible on the floor. More than a hundred dollars were found at the scene and nothing appeared to be stolen. Murdered on Saturday between 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm in the first floor apartment of their home. Bodies discovered at 2:30 pm by nine-year-old nephew visiting. Bodies removed from the scene by funeral home by 6:00 pm. Father and older brother away at work.

Mary Ann Klinsky

Mary Ann Klinsky, 18  CASE CLOSED 2016
1965 September 16     Exit 116, Garden State Parkway, Holmdale,
Monmouth County, NJ

Cause of death: blunt trauma skull fracture intracranial bleeding.

Forensic characteristics:  penetrative rape reported.  Wednesday night murder.

Found nude, battered to death, raped on a Thursday around 3:00 p.m.  Cause of death: blunt trauma skull fracture intracranial bleeding. Disappeared the night before. Penetrative rape according to the media.  Last seen 1965 Sept 15, apx. 9:00 p.m. on Keansburg Boardwalk.

DNA evidence in 2016 identified serial killer Robert Zarinsky as the perpetrator.

Alys Jean Eberhardt

Alys Jean Eberhardt, 18
1965 September 24     3-34 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: double skull fracture with a blunt object to left and right side of head.

Forensic characteristics: 61 post-mortem stab wounds to neck and chest with 18-inch kitchen knife, found protruding from neck.  Souvenir letter opener dagger left at scene on the floor between the victim's legs by perpetrator. Clothing and bra pushed up around victim's neck, nude to the waist, lying on her back. Victim murdered in home. No penetrative rape according to media reports.  Victim might have been wearing a white student nurse uniform.  Friday afternoon murder.

Student nurse left dormitory at Hackensack Hospital School of Nursing 2:30 pm to go home and found in her home in the living room [den] by her father at 5:30 p.m.  No sign of forced entry.  Attack began in bedroom upstairs and progressed down the stairs into the living room [den].  Murdered Friday between 4:15 and 5:15 pm.

Stabbed post-mortem 60 times with an 18-inch kitchen knife in the neck and chest.  Kitchen knife protruding from the neck. 

A four-inch souvenir curved dagger from the Jordanian Pavilion  at New York Worlds Fair 1964-65 was brought to the scene by the perpetrator and found on the floor between the victim's legs.  Only one thousand daggers made and sold at the Jordanian Pavilion Worlds Fair or in New York City at the House of Jordan store on 38th Street and Third Avenue and the Acropolis 44th Street and Eighth Avenue.  Sheath never found.

Joanne Fantazier murder 1966 New Jersey

Joanne Fantazier, 17
1966 Feb 11     Colts Neck Township, Monmouth County, NJ.

Cause of death: brain hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to back of the head and hypothermia.

Forensic characteristics:  Abducted Thursday night. Struck with blunt object back of the head. Thrown off the bridge while still alive but unconscious. Found clad in red dress and raccoon fur coat.  High heel leather shoes missing. Purse with personal items and papers found by side of road. No evident sexual assault.

February 10, 1966, Thursday, 6:30 pm. left home from 612 Florida Grove Road, Perth Amboy, to visit girlfriend. Last seen at the  Delaney-Dunlap housing projects near her home.

Found Friday, February 11 in Colts Neck Township, face down on ice of Yellow Brook at Muhlenbrink Road bridge. Dropped from bridge twelve feet below.

Wendy Sue Wolin

Wendy Sue Wolin Fleischner, 7
1966 March 8     Irvington and Prince Street, Elizabeth, Union  County, NJ

Cause of death: stab to the chest.

Forensic characteristics: 7 year-old child victim.  Murdered in street. Single stab wound.  Possibly disguised or wearing human mask. Tuesday afternoon murder. 

Murdered on a Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. Stabbed once in the chest with a hunting knife while walking on Irvington Street to wait for her mother as she was pulling out her car from the rear of their nearby apartment building. Died an hour later. Children who witnessed the stabbing described a middle-aged white man in his mid-forties, stocky, about 220 lbs, with thick grey hair, “lifeless” pale face, wearing a dark grey or brown felt fedora and olive green three-quarter length corduroy coat and grey pants. Subject walked around to Prince Street dropping the hunting knife about 200 feet away from the scene.

Other adult witnesses report seeing a subject matching a similar description in the vicinity shortly prior to the murder, assaulting and accosting two other  girls.

Catherine Baker murder 1966 New Jersey

Catherine Baker, 16
1966-03-17     Edison Township, Middlesex County/Jackson Township, Ocean County, NJ.

Cause of death: multiple skull fractures and lacerations.

Forensic characteristics: abducted near home and a shopping center - found in water - nude from waist down - beaten about the head - sexual assault indetermined due to decomposition

Thurs March 17 1966, 7:00 pm left home at 48 Gurley Road in Nixon, Edison Township to a bakery a block away in the Edison Shopping Center on Woodbridge Avenue, to buy cupcakes for her mother. Witnesses claimed to have seen her in the vicinity at 8:50 pm.

Baker was wearing pink sweater, brown pants and three-quarter length green suede jacket and glasses.

May 14, 1966 Found in water south branch Metedeconk River near Cook's Bridge, Jackson Township. (226 N Cooks Bridge Rd, Jackson Township, New Jersey.)

August 13, 1966 Ivan Joseph Rule, 18, of 102 Mill Road committed suicide in his cell when he was detained for questioning. Rule had briefly dated Baker. A letter was found by police written by Baker to a friend in which she stated that Rule threatened to kill her if she dated anyone else. Rule, who might have not known that he was detained as a suspect in the Baker murder, was on probation for a conviction in auto registration fraud and might have become distraught at the possibility of being returned to a reformatory. He hung himself with his own belt which police failed to secure prior to locking him in a holding cell.

Janet Ipsaro Adams, 18

Janet Ipsaro Adams, 18
1966 April 4      329 E. Midland Avenue, Paramus, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics:  post-mortem stab wound. Sexual activity but no indications of forcible rape.  Murdered in home.  Monday afternoon murder.

Murdered on a  between 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm. Found nude in her second story garage apartment on bathroom floor. Strangled with husband’s neck tie (or hairnet) in bedroom. Signs of recent sexual activity.  Bra torn. Dragged into bathroom. Found in bathtub half filled with water. Bruised on the forehead and scratches on hands. Four-inch scissors driven into in her left breast post-mortem. Strangulation cause of death.  Married several days before.  Wedding party with some forty teenage guests on Sunday night. Last seen buying cleaning supplies and thank-you notes at about 1:00 pm Monday.  Found by landlord after 3:00 pm.

Mary Ann Farino

Carol Ann Farino, 18
1966 Nov 03     
22 Sommer Ave, Maplewood, Essex County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics: Abducted. Found laying on her back, head pointing west, about 20-25 feet from the side walk. Dressed in what appeared to be a white uniform, had no shoes or stockings on, a pink girdle wrapped around her right ankle. Wearing panties which did not appear to be disturbed. Her uniform was unbuttoned at the front but there did not appear to be any tears in her clothing, and the white uniform was not smudged or dirty. Her legs were exposed almost to the waist and were clean, no scratches of smudges. Deep strangulation mark around the neck where her nylon stocking was knotted tightly. Thursday evening murder. One stocking and shoes missing.

Found at 8:45 PM. in driveway 25-feet away from the curb of a home at 22 Sommer Ave, Maplewood, NJ.   Killed about 25 minutes prior to being discovered. Found 8 blocks from her home at 5 Jefferson Street.

Believed to have been carried from a vehicle about 25 feet to the site.  No information on penetrative rape.

Carol Ann Farino left work Nov 3, 1966 from Milt's Cup and Saucer at 174 Maplewood at 7:30  p.m.  She stopped in George's Luncheonette at 153 Maplewood for a soda and spoke with the owner from about 7:35-7:50.  Farino was last seen by a girlfriend at Maplewood Center at 193 Maplewood at 8:00 p.m.

Gail Gawlick, a fellow-worker at the Milt's strated a tall, thin man in his 20s with light hair and a mustache driving a late-model blue Chevrolet attempted to persuade her to get into his car a few days earlier in front of the store.

Mary Ann Della Sala

Mary Ann Della Sala, 18
1967 Jan 24     
Passaic River near Ryerson Way, Hawthorne, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: undetermined.

Forensic characteristics: Found in river fully clothed - disappeared on the way home from work in store. 

On Tuesday, January 24, 1967, at approximately 9 p.m., Mary Ann Della Sala, age 17, of 150 Hobart Street in Hackensack, NJ, finished her shift at the Shop Rite located on 330 Essex Street, in Hackensack. Mary Ann was reportedly offered a ride by a female co-worker, but declined because it was a nice night. Mary Ann chose to walk home. The co-worker did drive another employee home to Wood-Ridge. On her way back, she did not see Mary Ann along her normal route (Essex Street to Polifly Road to Lodi Street), and assumed that Mary Ann had arrived home.

Mary Anna Della Sala was last seen wearing a light blue sweater and suede jacket with tan pants, blue shoes and a blue headband. She was carrying a shoulder strap hand bag.  She was also wearing her boyfriend’s Hackensack High School class ring which was engraved with his initials.    Victim was found in Passaic River near Ryerson Way, Hawthorne, N.J. April 10, 1967.     No cause of death determination. 

Darlene DeWolff Polizzi

Darlene DeWolff Polizzi, 19  [MISSING] Namus Case # MP18331
1967 April 24     
400 Westminster Place in Lodi, Bergen County, NJ 

Cause of death: unknown.

Forensic characteristics: Disappeared from home on a Monday. 

Darlene DeWolff Polizzi, 19, went missing from Lodi in Bergen County, New Jersey, Monday, April 24, 1967. Darlene has reddish brown hair and brown eyes, a small female at 5’ 3” and weighing 100 pounds. She was wearing a brown blouse and a skirt with polka dots, along with a brown suede coat with a fur collar, when she went missing.

She and her husband were looking at new apartments with her husband and had returned home to 400 Westminster Place in Lodi, NJ. Her husband went out, leaving Darlene home alone. She was reported missing by her husband on April 25 and he believed she took several items of clothing, but left behind most personal belongings, including her jewelry. She was a waitress at the Hangar Restaurant in Paramus and known to frequent Tommy’s Diner on Paterson Avenue in Wallington. 

Suspected serial killer Raymond Alves lived in Polizzi's neighborhood in 1967. He worked with her husband at a sheet metal plant, and she was friends with his wife. The Alves family moved away the day after Polizzi disappeared.
Nancy Vogel
Nancy Schiava Vogel, 29      CASE CLOSED 2010
1967 Oct 28  Ridgefield Park, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics: found naked - beaten on right side of face - black eye - bruise back of head -  found in own vehicle - strangled with rope - hands tied in front with thin cord - no signs of forcible penetrative rape - at a shopping center prior to death - was acquainted with her killer.

Found Oct 30, 1967 in her car parked at Brinkerhoff St & Homestead Pl in Ridgefield Park. Strangled with a rope or tie.  Face bruised.  Black right eye. Bruise back of her head. Hands tied in front with thin cord.   Vogel's naked body was partly draped by an army blanket or seat cover and was found on the floor of her Rambler vehicle in the back seat area. At the time, Bergen County Prosecutor Guy W. Calissi stated Vogel "knew her killer because there was evidence she had sexual relations and her clothes were folded 'neatly under her' on the seat of the car in which her body was found."   

On Friday, October 28, 1967, Vogel stated she was going out to play bingo at St. Margaret R.C. Church in Little Ferry but went shopping at Valley Fair departments store, making several purchases which were later found in her car.  

Incarcerated serial killer Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty in Bergen County, August 2010.
Jackie Harp

Jacalyn (Jackie) Harp , 13      CASE EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSED 2019
1968 July 17    175 Paterson Avenue, Midland Park, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics:  strangled with leather flag sling - on the way home from drum and bugle band practice - clothes in disarray - struck in the face.  Blood smeared and stomach, bruising on forehead.  Wednesday night murder. No penetrative rape. Found morning of July 18 in treed lot between the rear of a house on 28 Morrow Road and a factory on 175 Paterson Avenue .

Reported missing by family after failing to return from evening band practice at Midland School field.  Last seen apx. 9:50 p.m. walking home along Godwin St near the corner of Cross Street.

Incarcerated serial killer Richard F. Cottingham confessed.
  

Joan Freeman

Joan Carole Freeman, 22      
1968 August 31   800 Bloomfield Ave, Nutley (Clifton), Passaic County, NJ

Cause of death: skull fracture with a blunt object and multiple slashes to the throat with edged instrument.

Forensic characteristics: struck from behind.  Beaten about the face.  Throat slashed and cut to the depth of the spine. Killed in secured place of employment.  Found clothed. Saturday afternoon murder - estimated around 12:30 to 1:30 pm. No evident penetrative rape.

On a Saturday 5:30 pm Aug. 31, 1968; Joan Freeman was working overtime recording employees' hours from time cards in a second-floor medical library in Building 34 on the Clifton side of Hoffmann-La Rouche, on a security-gated campus.  Her killer came at her from behind, striking her in the back of the head with a wooden mallet which was recovered at the scene. Victim was struck repeatedly in the face and head. Throat cut and slashed.  A guard making a routine sweep of the building found her body several hours later.

In the ensuing weeks, detectives interviewed and performed background checks on more than 300 people, including the guards who had been on duty at the campus' front and back gates and the employees who were at work that day. Dozens of people took polygraph tests but no suspect was identified.

Freeman was a former Passaic Valley High School cheerleader had no known enemies, no habits or relationships that might have motivated the savage beating and slashing on a Saturday afternoon in 1968.
Jane Durrua New Jersey murdered 1968

Jane Durrua, 13
1968 November 4     Middletown, Monmouth County, NJ.

Cause of death: cerebral hemorrhage from blunt force trauma to head

Forensic characteristics: Clothes disheveled. Shoes found under body. Monday night murder. Severe head injury above one eye. Found in ditch in open field near railway tracks. Sexually assaulted. Near shopping center. Monday evening murder.

1968 November 4, Monday, 4:55 pm, left her home at 51 Frazee Place, Keansburg to visit her sister at 26 Dakota Avenue, East Keansburg, Middleton, about 20-minute walk. Found next day in ditch south of railway tracks (today Henry Hudson Bike Trail) frequently used by locals behind Grandway Supermarket on Rte. 36. (today in vicinity of 99 Grove Street, Middletown.)

James Bellamy charged in 2004 on DNA evidence but charges dropped in 2006 after DNA sample contamination determined.

Robert Zarinsky charged in 2008 based on DNA evidence but died on eve of trial. 

Linda Balabanow murder 1969 New Jersey

Linda Balabanow, 17
March 26 1969       Roselle, Monmouth County/Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, NJ.

Cause of death: ligature strangulation and cerebral hemorrhage resulting from fractured skull by blunt force trauma

Forensic characteristics: abducted on way home from work - found in water - fractured skull from blunt force trauma - jaw broken - beaten about the face - nude to the waist - no penetrative rape evident - hands bound with rope - truck tire chain wrapped around the victim's neck, hands and lower extremities - her dress wrapped around her face and head and tied with an electrical cord around the her neck with a granny knot - shoes missing

March 26 1969 disappeared after leaving work at 5:00 pm in a drug store store in Roselle. Victim did not return to her family home at 1766 Union Avenue, Union, NJ.
Police treated Balabanow as a run-away, despite her leaving her money and cosmetics at home.

April 27, 1969 found in Woodbridge Township, in Raritan River near Hess Oil dock.

In 1975 according to media reports, a hammer found in Robert Zarinsky's car had blood and a hair adhering to it "similar" to that of Balabanow, but was found to be insufficient evidence to lay charges.

Irene Blase Murdered 1969

Irene Blase, 18   CASE EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSED 2019
1969 April 7    Hackensack - Saddle Brook, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics:  strangled with wire/rope or chain of the crucifix she was wearing. Beaten and bruised. Stabbed once through the back into the right lung.  Partially disrobed. Found in water. Abducted from urban street. No determination of penetrative rape. Monday evening murder.

Irene Blase was seen on Main Street, in Hackensack, at approximately 8:00 p.m. Monday, April 7, 1969. She was seen again, at approximately 8:45 p.m., at the Hackensack Bus Station with an unidentified white male. Irene was last seen wearing a black long sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans. She was also wearing a silver crucifix hanging around her neck and a “Belle Chasse High School 1965" class ring on her right hand.

Found April 8, 1969 facedown in 4 feet of water in Saddle River near I-80 behind Sani-Pure Laboratories in Saddle Brook.

Incarcerated serial killer Richard F. Cottingham confessed.
  

Gilda Ryan, 34       
1969 April 28    8 Dolan Street, Sayreville County, Middlesex County, NJ

Cause of death: stab wound to the lung.

Forensic characteristics:  Stabbed three times in the chest and stabbed and cut ten times at the abdomen, scalp and neck with a kitchen knife found at the scene. Murdered on a Monday night.

Gilda Ryan was a practical nurse employed at the Metuchen Nursing Home.

Found Tuesday at 1:00 am by Robert Lewis who lived with Ryan and her three children when he returned home to their second floor apartmen.

No further information released.

Susan Davis
Elisabeth Perry

Susan Davis 19, & Elizabeth Perry, 19     [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ]
1969 May 30      Garden State Parkway, Ocean City, Cape May County, NJ

Cause of death: stab wounds to the neck and chest.

 

Forensic characteristics:   Abducted in or from their vehicle - cut, stabbed and scratched with a short pen or paring knife - some superficial knife scratches - bruised and beaten - evidence of sexual assault [not specified] - one victim found nude with fatal wound to the neck - the other victim wearing torn disheveled garments with fatal stab wound to chest - Friday morning murder - on Garden State Parkway

Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry were last seen alive on Friday May 30, 1969 at 4:30 a.m. in Ocean City having breakfast at the Somers Point Diner, 8 MacArthur Blvd, Somers Point, NJ before heading north in their baby blue Chevy convertible on the Garden State Parkway home to Pennsylvania after a three day vacation in Ocean City.

Later that Friday, their car was found parked about two miles north of the Somers Point-Point-Ocean City interchange, near milepost 31.9 on the northbound side of Garden State Parkway and routinely towed.  On Sunday the girls were reported missing by their families.

Monday, June 1, at about 1:30 p.m. about 100 yards into the woods from where the car had been towed, police found the bodies concealed under piles of leaves  approximately 20 feet apart.

Elizabeth Perry died of a chest wound penetrating her right lung and was also stabbed in the abdomen. The side of her neck had superficial knife scratches. Perry was found found dressed in her green dress, shoes and undergarments. (Some reports indicate that the garments were disheveled ripped or torn.)

Susan Davis was nude and died of wound to the neck that severed her larynx and was also stabbed on the left side of her abdomen and the right side of her neck. Her light blue jacket with initials, blue print dress and underwear were found in a pile near her.


The handbags of both girls were found nearby, Davis's purse with $3 and change.

Witnesses reported seeing at around 7:30 a.m. a dark colored Mustang parked near where the blue convertible was found.

 

Some sources note that serial killer Ted Bundy attended Temple University from January through May 1969 and apparently did not move west until after Memorial Day weekend. While Bundy's accounts of his earliest crimes varied considerably between interviews, he told forensic psychologist Art Norman that his first murder victims were two women "in the Philadelphia area."  

Denise Falasca

Denise Falasca, 1 CASE EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSED 2019      
1969 July 14   Closter, NJ / Saddle Brook, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics:  abducted near home - found by side of the road near cemetery - nude from waist up - bra loose around neck - beaten - bruises on chin and face - black eye - strangled with chain of crucifix according to police - sexually assaulted - bloody palm print on thigh - Monday evening murder

On Monday, July 14, 1969, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Denise Falasca, age 15, left her residence on 32 Bergenline Avenue in Closter, New Jersey, to go to her friend's house in Westwood, NJ. Denise was supposed to be home at 11:00 p.m.; however, she never returned home. Witnesses reported seeing Denise walking on Old Hook Road in Emerson, towards Westwood, at approximately 9:00 p.m, that evening. Denise was wearing blue bell-bottom jeans, a dark-colored shirt and carrying a brown leather-type drawstring purse.

On Tuesday, July 15, 1969, Denise Falasca's body was discovered in front of St. Mary's Cemetery on the side of Westminster Place in Saddle Brook, N.J. 

Incarcerated serial killer Richard F. Cottingham confessed.
  
 

Joyce Coleman

Joyce Coleman, 28     
1970 February 2  
245 Bartley Road, Long Valley, Morris County, NJ

Cause of death: blunt trauma to face and head.

Forensic characteristics: found in home - post-mortem cuts to neck - no sexual assault reported.

Found in basement recreation room by husband early Friday morning. 
House ransacked. 14-month male infant unharmed. Rifles and shotgun and quantity of ammunition stolen, along with two cameras. No signs of struggle.
Carol Hill

Carol Hill, 20     
1970 June 7  
Hunt's Pier, Wildwood, Cape May County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation and asphyxiation by sand stuffed into her mouth.

Forensic characteristics: Victim was raped.  Bruises and bite marks found on neck.  Sunday night murder.

On Monday, June 8, 1970, members of the Wildwood Police Department, while on routine patrol, discovered the body of Carol Hill underneath the Hunt's Pier, Wildwood boardwalk at approximately 12:20 a.m. Hill was a 20-year-old Caucasian female, 5’1, 135 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes. Hill was wearing a skirt, white short sleeve shirt. 

Investigation also revealed the last known contact with Hill was with a slender unknown male, about 22-24 years of age, 5 foot 7 inches, light brown hair, 150-160 pounds, at the Bolero Bar, located at 3320 Atlantic Avenue, Wildwood, NJ, at approximately 9:00 p.m. on June 7, 1970.
Donna Albright Victim 1970

Donna Albright, 13     
1970 June 15   Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: undetermined.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Monday night disappearance - on the way home from library - ring and parts of necklace found with body  - body buried.

 

Reported missing by her father June 15, 1970. No newspaper reports.  Donna, who had graduated from Corpus Christie Elementary School three days prior, had been at the Hasbrouck Heights Library earlier that evening with a friend. The two girls left the library at approximately 10:00 p.m. and walked along the  Boulevard, stopping briefly in Powelson Drug Store. Donna’s friend recalled, in a later interview, that they had observed a cream colored vehicle following them during their walk. The girls parted ways in the area of Lasalle Street. Last seen wearing a beige long sleeved top, striped bell bottom pants and clog sandals. She was also wearing a thin gold necklace and a gold ring, with a purple stone.  

 

Body found Sept 9, 1976 buried at vacant lot on 9 Camden Street – parking lot expansion – stuffed into plastic garbage bags,
No
cause of death could be determined due to decomposition.

Jean Wilson Day and daughter Ellen

Jean Wilson Day, 41    
1971 March 7   901 Gates Ave, Piscathaway, Middlesex County, NJ

Cause of death: blunt force trauma to the head.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Sunday morning murder.  Weapon not found. No obvious signs of sexual assault and no signs of robbery or forced entry.

Discovered in her bed bludgeoned to death by her ten-year-old daughter Ellen at approximately 9:15 a.m. Sunday morning. The two returned to their home at about 1:30 a.m. according to neighbors after visiting friends in West Paterson.  Jean Wilson Day was a Rutgers University assistant professor of chemistry and a former president of the Piscataway League of Women Voter 1968-69.  She was divorced since two year prior.  Daughter did not hear anything.

 

Kalinowski

Gail Ann Kalinowski, 14   
1971 Sept 8   Manville, Somerset County, NJ
       

Cause of death:  forcible drowning.

Forensic characteristics:  Wednesday night disappearance near home - no signs of violence determined on body when found - presumed drowned - finding later revised to homicide.

September 8, 1971 last seen at about 7:30 p.m. at the Parkway Deli on Dukes Parkway in Manville, which she left headed toward her home at 1329 Green Street along a path through a field bordering on Hillsborough, in order to get some money. At about 8 p.m. she responded to a telephone call from her aunt at her house. When her mother returned home at 8:30 p.m., Gail was gone. A pair of broken glasses and a sandal belonging to her found about 200 yards from her home and a 1000 yards from where her body would be found. Her other sandal and two $1 bills were also later found in the area.

Decomposing body found September 26, 1971 near Manville landfill off Dukes Parkway in swampy land between the Raritan River and N. 13th Avenue at Dukes Parkway.

Detective Stephen Champi "firmly convinced" that it was murder.   Body could not have floated from creek near the site of the disappearance to drainage canal where found.

1973: Asst Prosecutor Leonard N. Arnold "absolutely certain" that Kalinowski was murdered and had a suspect in mind. Also stated there was evidence she had been assaulted prior to her death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #5221, 14-18 est.,  Namus Case # UP5221  
1971 Dec 6    Garden State Parkway, Galloway Township, Atlantic County, NJ
       

Cause of death:  undetermined.


Forensic characteristics:
Date of death estimated as c. 1971 - found near Garden State Parkway 

Facial reconstruction for body discovered in woods off of Jim Leeds Road near milepost #42 of the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township, New Jersey. 

5'3" 117 lbs, hair shades of blonde, brown and red with coloring additive, ribbed blue cotton or synthetic shirt; white, blue, and orange striped canvas or cotton trouser of the hip-hugger variety; underwear; white bra, brown leather sandals, brown, wide leather band with small brass rings containing a ladies Westclock watch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE   
1972 March 25    East Shore Road, West Milford, Passaic County, NJ
       

Cause of death:  undetermined.


Forensic characteristics:
African American female found nude in a wooded slope on Hewitt Forge State Park property in West Milford.
In her thirties, five-foot four-inches tall, about 110 pounds, discovered March 25, 1972 at 4:28 pm.

Estimated to have died a week before. No evident bruises, marks or injury and no cause of death reported.


Found in an isolated wooded section, a quarter-mile north of Greenwood Lake Turnpike. Body was found 20 to 25 feet down a slope off the nothbound lane of East Shore Road. The woman had two tattoos on her right thigh, three inches above her knee. One of them was the word "Sonny", the other was a small heart above the word with an arrow pointing down to the name. No clothing, jewelry or other objects found.

The Journal News White Plains, New York October 10, 1974, in story headlined "12 slain since 1970: History of area murders" states:

"A long unsolved murder case involving an unidentified allegedly Spring Valley woman whose partly decomposed body was found in West Milford N.J., on March 25, 1972, was recently reopened. Village police said last July they had additional clues in the murder. But as yet the victim has not been identified and no arrests have been made."

Dollores Della Penna

Dolores Della Penna, 17
1972 July 11 Philadelphia, PA - Ocean County, NJ

Cause of death:  undetermined due to dismemberment.

Forensic characteristics: Abducted late Tuesday night near home - body dismembered and decapitated - multiple body part locations - skin off fingertips was cut away to obscure fingerprints - head never located

Abducted shortly before midnight Tuesday July 11, 1972 near her home at 4902 Rawle Street and Tulip Street, Philadelphia. She was walking from a trolley stop three blocks away at Torresdale Avenue and Knorr Street. She was wearing jeans and a halter top. The victim's coat, the key to her back door and two crucifixes were found at the location along with a trail of blood. Witnesses described the victim being dragged away from between a bus stop and her home into a 1965-68 maroon Chevrolet sedan by a white male, about 25, 5 feet 8, 160 pounds, slender build, with brown hair and chin length bushy sideburns. He was wearing a light-colored, short-sleeve shirt, dark trousers.

The victim was wearing four rings: a star sapphire, a blue stone trimmed in silver, a ring with a garnet center and a St. Hubert's Catholic School ring. It's unclear whether the rings were recovered with the torso.

July 22, torso and arms found at Crescent Avenue and Oakwood Drive in Jackson Township, Ocean County.

July 29 her legs found in Manchester Township near Cedar Glen Lakes retirement community, Cedar Glen West near the intersection of Routes 547 and 571. Both locations were near Route 571.

Body dismembered cleanly by a sharp instrument such as a saw or knife as opposed to being hacked apart by an axe or hatchet. 

Jeannette DePalma, 16     
1972 August 7   Houdaille Quarry, Mountview Rd, Springfield Township, Union County, NJ  ("The Devil's Teeth")

Cause of death:  undermined.

 

Forensic characteristics:   A makeshift wooden cross at the body (or multiple crosses) and perhaps an angel’s halo around head made from twigs or stones, or a coffin shape around the body.   Allegations and rumors of satanic cult symbols denied by police.   A necklace victim wore was never found. 

 

Disappeared on August 7, 1972 on the way to a friend’s house.  Seen at several points prior to vanishing.

Remains found September 19, 1972 on hilltop known as “The Devil’s Teeth” in the Houdaille Quarry. 

Joan Kramer

Joan Kramer, 24     
1972 August 14-15   Elizabeth River Park, Union County, NJ   

Cause of death:  strangulation.

 

Forensic characteristics:  abducted Monday-Tuesday night - found nude face-down and covered in mud in water ditch - clothing scattered in vicinity.  Sexual assault undetermined.

 

Joan Leslie Kramer, 24, disappeared Monday-Tuesday, August 14-15, 1972 after leaving for a walk from her parent's home at 65 Crest Drive, South Orange following a minor argument with boyfriend during a party.  Wearing an orange and white ankle-length evening dress, blue velvet jacket, and a pearl necklace and carrying a beige snake skin wallet.

Police established she phoned later that night from booth about 1.5 miles away on South Orange Avenue, in South Orange across the street from a taxi stand, stating she was "on a deserted street in Newark" and she 'd be taking a taxi home. Seen getting into vehicle and driven away in opposite direction from home. Habitually hitchhiked.

 

Found August 28, nude in ditch Chatfield section of Elizabeth River Park adjoining Elizabeth River. 

Charlotte Loomis

Charlotte Jean Loomis, 14   [MISSINGNamus Case # MP6309  
1972 September 1   Newark, Essex County NJ   

Cause of death: unknown.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Friday - Disappeared in vicinity of Newark Airport - checked-in luggage arrived at destination  

 

Charlotte Jean Loomis was last seen on September 1, 1972, in Eatontown, NJ. Her parents lived in Detroit, but she had been staying on an army base in NJ with her sister-in-law. Charlotte was having problems at her family home in Detroit, Michigan. She went to stay for the summer with her older sister Carole and her husband, who lived on an army base in New Jersey.

On September 1, 1972, Charlotte was scheduled to depart from the Newark International Airport in New Jersey, and arrive back home at Saginaw Airport in Michigan. Charlotte’s luggage arrived in Michigan, but Charlotte was not on the plane.

Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Charlotte has a scar on her forehead. She has previously fractured her forearm. Date of Birth 03/24/1958

Very few details available on this case in the public record.

Lilly Susan (Suzanne) Kenney, 26   
1973 January 25   Possumtown Road and 49 Third Avenue near Rt. 287, Piscataway, Middlesex County NJ   

Cause of death: crushed larynx by undetermined means.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Thursday morning murder. Laceration on chin and bruises to upper body.  Found in wooded area behind an abandoned estate about 50 feet from Possumtown Road and 49 Third Avenue near Rt. 287 at about 12;30 p.m.  Found fully clothed in brown and maroon plaid "mini-culottes", a blue sweater and matching pantyhose and brown shoes, wearing her watch and ring. No obvious signs sexual assault. Beaded 'Indian style' drawstring purse and tan colored ski jacket missing.  The medical examiner ruled out manual strangulation as the cause for the crushed larynx and posited that Kenny might have been struck by a car accdientally and its frightened driver concealed her body.

 

Kenny was being driven home on Wednesday night by her fiancé Donald Koening, 24, from his home in the Regency Apartments, North Plainfield in her vehicle, a green 1967 Pontiac LeMans with a black vinyl top. At about 11:00 p.m. the vehicle ran out of gas close to the traffic signal of Rt. 22 near North Drive in North Plainfield.  Koening left Kenny in the car and walked to a gas station within its sight. He returned but was unable to start the vehicle.  Koening returned to the gas station and came back with an attendant to find Kenny had vanished. After searching the vicinity, Koening reported her missing to the police in Plainfield at about 1:00 a.m.


Her body was found at 1:00 p.m five miles away by a Bell Laboratories employee on a walk from where she was last seen on Thursday about 50 feet from Possumtown Road between Third Avenue and Rt. 287 across the driveway from the site of the historical former home of Mrs. Sophy Kokenyessy which after being vandalized was burned down by the fire department two years earlier and had become a dumping place.

Kenney lived at 759 Somerset Street in Watchung with her widowed mother.  She was a keypunch operator at New Jersey Bell Telephone Co. in Cranford.  

Jan Cotta

Jan Andre[a] Cotta, 19 [MISSING] Namus Case # MP5978
1973 June 26     Wall Township, Monmouth County, NJ
 

Cause of death: unknown.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Tuesday late night disappearance near home in rural area

 

Jan Cotta was last seen at home on Ridgewood Road on June 26, 1973, where she provided riding lessons at her family's property.

Cotta was last seen in the barn tack house by her brother, Brian Cotta, and his friend between 11:30 p.m. and midnight. A vehicle was heard driving away from the farm and afterwards, Cotta was discovered to be missing.

Jan has a mole near the left side of her mouth. She was last seen wearing blue Land Lubbers jeans, a white shirt with a blue design on it, brown loafers, and she was carrying a round tweed purse. Jan may go by the alias name Jane Andrea Cotta.

 

Cotta was five to seven months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.  Her siblings are still searching for her. Her case remains unsolved.

Theresa Maria Caserio

Theresa Maria Caserio, 16
1973 July 24, 63 Buttercup Lane, Willingboro, Burlington County, NJ

Cause of death: asphyxiation.

 

Forensic Characteristics: Found in a bedroom closet of her home - clad in an opened blouse and blue jeans pulled down to her ankles - Asphyxiation by a sock stuffed down her throat (or her stocking in other media reports) and 50 (21 in other media reports) stab wounds to the chest, one of which punctured her lung - beaten on the head with a blunt object. Hands and feet bound with stockings - mouth gagged.  Monday morning-mid-day murder. No signs of struggle or penetrative rape.

 

Caserio was staying with neighbors whilie parents were away on a trip, but would return to her house to do chores. Last seen Monday 10:00 am hanging laundry in her yard. Witnesses report a sandy haired man, 6'2" about 40 years old, wearing a light jacket and driving a red car in vicinity of victim's home. 

Ann Logan

Ann Logan, 19
1973 September 18  Roselle, Union County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

Forensic Characteristics: abducted in and found near her vehicle - bloodstains on exterior of vehicle - battered with brick on skull and face - skirt pulled up around waist - pantyhose torn away - fingernails broken in struggle - - departing work late at night - Tues night

Seaton Hall University co-ed reported reported missing by parents after failing to return home from Stop and Shop at 300 South Avenue in Garwood at 11:30 pm. Found lying near near her 1968 Cougar on East Eighth Avenue by passerby. Brick smeared in blood found nearby. Victim trained in karate apparently fought back. May have been strangled with strap of her purse or rope/wire and perhaps also manually choked.  A man's t-shirt soaked in victim's blood found nearby.


Found Wednesday, September 19 near her car on East Eighth Avenue in Roselle.

Suzanne Garden

Suzanne Garden, 14     
1974 January 27   Toms River, Ocean County, NJ   

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Beaten about the head and face - found clad in blue jeans, panties, socks and boots. Blouse and bra found some distance from body. Stabbed several times in the chest. [post-mortem?]  Sexually assaulted in breast area. No penetrative rape reported. Clothing reported to be different from that she wore when reported missing by her mother on Sunday.

 

Suzanne Garden, 14, left home from 329 Morris Boulevard, Tom's River, Sunday, January 27, 1974.  Her mother reported her missing shortly afterwards. She was reportedly seen on the next day in business area.

Body found Wednesday January 30, 1974 in wooded area near corners of Maplecrest Rd and Delaware Avenue, Toms River, NJ.  

Cynthia Leslie

Cynthia Leslie, 18     
1974 February 26   Toms River, Ocean County, NJ.   

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.


Forensic characteristics:
  Strangled with her own belt. Stabbed. No penetrative rape reported.  Clothed.  Sexually assaulted in the breast area.

 

Cynthia Leslie, 18.  Disappeared Wed, February 26.  Was on her lunch break from Ocean Country Advertising Service, 40 Iron Street and was to deposit $6,000 in non-negotiable checks at a bank.  Seen in the opposite direction from the bank, at 1:30 p.m. on Water Street, arguing with a young, white male with collar-length dirty blond or light brown hair, dressed in work clothes. 

Body found five days later on March 3, 1974
in wooded area at bottom of Messenger Avenue in the vicinity where last seen. Checks found with body.

Margaret Fox Missing New Jersey 1974

Margaret Fox, 14  [MISSING]   
1974 June 24  Mount Holly, Burlington County, NJ.   

Cause of death: unknown


Forensic characteristics:
  Lured from home to an abduction in Mount Holly - highly organized abduction -

 

On Tuesday, June 18, 1974 Margaret Fox, 14,  and her cousin Lynn Park, 11,  placed an ad in newspaper seeking baby sitter work, giving their two phone numbers: "BABYSITTERS - Experienced. Teen girls. Love Kids. Work at your house. Call..." The two girls lived on Penn Street in Burlington a few doors away from each other.  On June 19, Lynn Park received a call from a "John Marshall" offering her work in Mount Holly to take care of "his five-year-old son".  Park's mother refused to allow her to work so far away from home.  Fox was then called and offered the same job which she accepted.  "Marshall" instructed her to travel on Friday to the bus stop at High and Mill Street, in Mount Holly, approximately 20 minutes away, where "his wife would come and pick her up in a red volkwagen."  Margaret wrote down "Marshall's" phone number.  Later that night "Marshall" called again, and spoke to Margaret's father, changing the date to next Monday because of a "death in the family." The father would later state that "Marshall" appeared to have a voice of a 30-40 year-old male.   

On, Monday, June 24 Fox boarded a Transport of New Jersey’s 8:40 a.m. bus to Mount Holly. Two witnesses saw her get off at the destination - one saw her speak to a young man in his twenties driving a red sports car.  Margaret Fox remains missing. 

Fox failed to return home. When the family called the "John Marshall" telephone number, it turned out to be for a phone booth at an A&P Supermarket parking lot on Route 38 in Lumberton managed by a Jack Marshall.  Jack Marshall was cleared by police.
Loraine Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor

Loraine Marie Kelly, 16 &  Mary Ann Pryor, 17  [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ] 
CASE CLOSED April 27, 2021

1974 August 9   29 Rolling Ridge Road, Montvale,  Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: asphyxiation forcible drowning.


Forensic characteristics:  double abduction - murdered elsewhere and dumped where found face down nude parallel to each other. There were marks indicating the victims had been bound at the ankles and wrists.  Both victims had ropes loosely tied around their necks with a type of hitch riding knot.  Beaten and bruised.  Clothing not found.  Sexually assaulted.  One victims apparently tortured with cigarette burns - one victim lived longer than the other - held captive for at least 24 hours - Friday abduction.

 

Loraine Marie Kelly, 16 &  Mary Ann Pryor, 17, disappeared Friday, August 9, 1974 after being dropped off at a bus stop on Broad Avenue in Ridgefield, to go to the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus.  Girls known to have hitchhiked previously.

Found in Montvale
August 14, 1974, next to 29 Rolling Ridge Road, in a small slopped wood strip across the street from Ridgemount Gardens apartment complex. 

Believed to have been murdered elsewhere and carefully placed at the location.  Mary Ann Pryor identified by a gold necklace with a little cross around her neck. Both victims had their necklaces, and one a bracelet.

Incarcerated serial killer Richard F. Cottingham pleaded guilty in Bergen County to two counts of First Degree Murder, April 27, 2021.

Doreen Carlucci and Joanne Delardo

Doreen Carlucci, 14 & Joanne Delardo, 15     [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ]
1974 December 13   Toms River,  Ocean County, NJ

Cause of death: ligature strangulation.


Forensic characteristics:  Friday night double abduction - beaten about the head and shoulders - strangled by an electric cord.  Delardo nude from the waist down with electric cord wrapped tightly around her throat tied with a granny knot. Carlucci almost completely nude.  No penetrative rape reported.

 

Doreen Carlucci, 14 & Joanne Delardo, 15 disappeared December 13, 1974 after being dropped off by parents at a Catholic Church dance in Woodbridge, Middlesex County. Last seen 10 p.m. getting ice cream at a dairy store.  Found in Manalapan Township Dec 27, thirty miles away.

Betty Jean Belt murdered New Jersey 1975

Betty Jean Belt, 16
1975 July 1 East Brunswick, Middlesex,
NJ

Cause of death: undetermined [skull fracture probable]

Forensic characteristics: abducted and murdered near home - decomposing body found in water in drainage ditch - clad in panties and bra - blue jeans pulled down to ankles - blue shirt near by - upper portion of skull and lower jaw found in vicinity - skull and jaw fractured - disappeared Tuesday

Betty Jean Belt was reported to have run away from home at 664 Cranbury Road in East Brunswick by her father at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 1, 1975. At 1:15 p.m. police located her bicycle, wallet and shoes on Old Stage Road between Crescent Avenue and Fern Road, approximately a mile from her home.

On July 21 Belt's body was found in a a drainage ditch in Jamesburg Park woods, about 15 feet through thick undergrowth from a 'lovers lane' off Port Street near Helmetta Boulevard, about 200 yards below the point where Old Stage Road intersects with Helmetta Boulevard on the opposite side of the park. 1.8 miles from victim's home.

Carolyn Majane

Carolyn Majane, 15
1975 August 22  Moorestown, Burlington County, NJ

Cause of death:  undetermined.

Forensic characteristics:    Last seen at Friendly's ice cream bar and WaWa convenience store near the corners of Church St. and Main St. in Moorestown, on Aug 22, 1975.  She left at 10:15 pm to go to a party and had not been seen since.

On December 20, 1985, skeletal remains were discovered in an area called in Mt. Laurel called "Texas Pond", a local hang hang-out in the woods during the construction of Timbercrest housing development in Mt. Laurel, just a couple miles away from where she disappeared. Children in the neighborhood found her skull while playing on a mound of excavated dirt which led to the rest of her remains.

In New Jersey during the 1970s teenage girls who were missing were typically presumed to be runaways. No investigation ever took place during the ten years Carolyn was missing.

The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and the Moorestown Township Police Department have been involved in a joint investigation surrounding the death of Carolyn Majane.
Sandra Wood

Sandra Wood, 16 
1975 September 26
   Warren, Hunterdon County, NJ
 

Cause of death:  blunt trauma.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Tuesday evening last seen. Beaten to death with blunt instrument, massive internal injuries, ruptured spleen. No penetrative rape reported.  Dead for 2-4 days. Clad in red bikini panties, white bra and blue socks. Sweater pulled over her head. Jeans, white jacket, shoes and blue suede purse missing.   

 

Last seen heading toward home on Tuesday Sept 16, 1975, on Washington Valley Road west of Mt. Bethal Road in Warren between 7:30 pm - 8 pm.

 

Found Sept. 20, 1975, propped up against barbed wire fence on wooded side of Baptist Church Road, Pattenburg, Union Township, Hunterdon County, NJ.

 

Ann Gorham, 28
1976 July 7    15 Arlington Avenue, South River, Middlesex County, NJ.

Cause of death: asphyxiation.

Forensic characteristics:
murdered in home - found on bedroom floor - face up - in a pinkish-white short night gown - neck face and abdomen bruised - ligature marks on neck - broken steak knife blade in abdomen - post-mortem stab - Monday/Tuesday night

Found by estranged husband Tuesday afternoon on a visit to pick-up motorcycle parts.

Sandra Kucks murder 1974 New Jersey

Sandra Kucks (née Carroll), 37
1976 September 14   Rocky Hill, Montgomery, Somerset County, NJ.

Cause of death: unspecified strangulation.

Forensic characteristics:
Monday evening murder. Found in own vehicle - hunched over in back seat - near shopping mall - wearing only underwear.

September 14, 1976 last seen leaving home 9 p.m. in her Ford station wagon 6 Merrit Lane, Rocky Hill, Montgomery, NJ. Found 19 hours later in the back seat of her station wagon on a gravel road leading to the Kepner-Tregoe plant on Research Road in Montgomery, approximately a mile from her home.

Ruth Brooks murdered New Jersey 1977
Ruth Brooks, 28
1977 August 29 Trenton, Mercer County, NJ

Cause of death: unspecified.
 
Forensic characteristics: found in bed at home in the morning, struck on head with blunt instrument and stabbed several times. Ankles tied to wrists ("hog-tied") with strips of bed sheets. Gagged and found wearing only underwear. Murder weapons not found. African-American victim. Sunday/Monday night.

Children report that a male stayed the night and that they heard him say several times "I'm going to kill you."

Case vanishes from news media after initial reports August 30-31, 1977
Sigrid Stevenson murder 1977 New Jersey

Sigrid Stevenson, 25
1977-09-04      Kendall Hall ,Trenton State College, Ewing Township, Mercer County, NJ.

Cause of death: blunt force trauma to the head

Forensic characteristics: found Sunday night 11:30 pm - killed and found indoors - in college theater building on the stage - covered by a canvas piano cover - face down - nude - in a pool of blood - wrists bound - her blood stained shirt tied around her face - jeans found near by - bare feet splattered with mud and blood - 15 deep scalp wounds, lacerations and fractures of the face and skull - nose broken - two ribs broken - bruises on chest and elbows - piano music sheets splattered in blood - blood pooled on stage - blunt instrument weapon taken away by perpetrator - no evidence of penetrative rape -

Sigrid Stevenson, 25, of Livermore, Californian was a graduate student and was believed to have been practicing the piano in Kendall Hall at Trenton State College on the weekend prior to classes opening when the perpetrator attacked her. She was found by campus police during a routine patrol. (College of New Jersey today.)

Mary Ann Carr Maryann

Mary Ann Carr,  27  CASE CLOSED 1982
1977 December 15  Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, NJ

Cause of death: mechanical asphyxia, caused by a combination of the adhesive tape being placed over mouth and the strangulation effect of the ligature being pulled around the neck.

 

Forensic characteristics:  Abducted. Found clad in a nurse's white pants-style uniform with a short sleeved top.  Wrists and ankles bore handcuff ligature lines on them, with the marks on the ankles being slightly deeper and more reddish in color. A very fine, deep ligature mark extended form the right front side of neck all the way around to the back caused by tightly wrapping a wire, cord or nylon stocking around it. An area on face approximately two inches wide and three inches long where there remained remnants of white adhesive tape, which apparently had been used to cover her mouth. A bruise over the right portion of the neck, a reddish bruise on the right breast, several bruises on the leg, thighs and inner thighs, bruises on the upper and lower arms, a hemorrhage in the left occipital bone just behind the left ear, and a slit in the left pant leg above the knee near the thigh area. Her white shoes, orange-brown leather coat and a neutral-colored leather purse were missing.

 

Found morning of December 16, 1977 next to a parking lot fence on the side of the Quality Inn Motel, Route 17, Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. 

Last seen at 7:45-7:50 pm in the parking lot of the Ledgewood Terrace Apartments standing by her car with a white male, 28-32 years in age. Her apartment door was found unlocked.

Serial killer Richard Cottingham convicted in 1982.

Jane Doe
Gaylor "Gail" Alexander, 17
1977 December-1978 January   Dumont, Bergen County, NJ/New York, NY

Cause of death: undetermined due to dismemberment.

Forensic characteristics: Abducted to New Jersey - sex worker - killed elsewhere - torso and hand left in NJ - head and other hand in NY - neck neatly cut or sawed.

Torso and other body parts first found in Memorial Field Park at Charles and Hamilton Streets, Dumont, N.J. on December 29, 1977, packed into children's toy boxes wrapped in Christmas  paper and inserted into a plastic garbage bag. One small body part was found on Hamilton Avenue several hundred feet from the boxes. Genitals were excised and never found.

Bergen County identified the victim from her hand as Gaylor Alexander, 17, from Staten Island who had a history of prostitution arrests. 

January 16, 1978 her severed head and a hand were found in two subway lockers at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in New York during a routine locker inspection.   Police believe the parts were placed there after January 9, the last inspection.

Jennifer Ann Prince

Jennifer Ann Prince, 21 [ MISSING ]  Namus File # MP22939
1978 November 18, Eatontown, Monmouth County, NJ

Cause of death: unknown.

Forensic characteristics:  Disappeared on a Saturday from shopping mall.


Jennifer Ann Prince, 21 lived at 174 Esmeralda Court Brick Township, Ocean County, New Jersey was reported missing by her mother on November 18th, 1978. Jennifer’s husband on that day dropped her off at Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, Monmouth, New Jersey where she reported for a modeling job. Jennifer did not return home and has never been seen nor heard from again.

According to Jennifer’s husband she had forewarned him that she didn’t like grass to grow under her feet. After the birth of their child Jennifer was went into postnatal depression and was also hypoglycemic a condition he had been told can affect emotion and personality. Jennifer wanted to live a glamorous life of a model, after their child’s birth she found work in New York City. Someone Jennifer had met in New York City told her Ocean County was not the place to be for a modeling career..

Jennifer's heritage is Italian with a mix of French and Egyptian she had been modeling since the age of 14 and had modeled in New York for Schwartz and Keining.
Lorraine Rea Herbste

Lorraine Rea Herbster, 17  [MISSING] Namus Case # MP4585 
1979 March 9   Mont Holly, Westampton Township, Burlington County, NJ

Cause of death:  unknown.

Forensic characteristics: Vanished on a Friday on the way home from work.


Lorraine Rea Herbster, age 17, was last seen in Mont Holly, Westhampton Township, New Jersey on March 9, 1979.

At about 4:00pm, Lorraine, who was more commonly known as Lori, left her job at Microcircuit Corporation on Rancocas Road in Mount Holly, where she worked as a lab technician. She had worked there for only about a week, and a co-worker gave her a ride partway home. When she exited the vehicle at Rancocas Road and Holly Lane, she had six blocks to walk to her Westhampton home at 12 Whitlow Street, in the Tarnsfield housing development.

Although Lori was never seen arriving home, her purse was found in the front yard, along with her car. She was unable to drive her car, however, as she didn’t yet have a drivers license.
 
A witness reported seeing Lorraine walking toward her home, which led to her co-worker being ruled out as a suspect. Police also questioned her ex-boyfriend, who she had broken up with in December 1978, but he was cleared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #1522, 18-25 est., Namus Case # UP1522
1979 April 10 New Jersey Turnpike near Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, NJ

Cause of death:  undetermined.

Forensic characteristics: unidentified female - found near New Jersey Turnpike.

Composite sketch of body found in wooded area off New Jersey Turnpike near Perth Amboy, NJ. Chewing gum in mouth. Wearing rose colored dress with a brown cord belt. Pantyhose. Pink bikini panties. No bra. Dark brown strap shoes. Fingernails and toenails painted red. Silver chain with black and white striped curved, "Good Luck" charm (horn).
Donna Cote murdered 1979 New Jersey

Donna Cote, 18
1979 May 19 Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ.

Cause of death: manual strangulation

Forensic characteristics: abducted and killed near home - found face down in water in ditch - overalls pulled down to ankles - shirt pulled up - multiple scratch marks on breasts and legs - bruise behind left ear - water in lungs - Friday/Saturday night

At 1:30 a.m. the victim spoke on the telephone from her home at 647 Drake Ave in Middlesex and told her friend that she was going out for a walk. She was home alone at the time. She was found at 10 a.m. in a ditch by a heavily forested area off 98 Mountain Road across from McNeil Park (Irishtown Park today) about a half mile from her home.


Minerva Hill

Minerva Hill, 23 
1979 June 11   Paulsboro, Gloucester County NJ

Cause of death:
  blunt trauma to the head.

Forensic circumstances:  wrapped in a sheet, fully clothed, cause of death blow to the head with blunt instrument.  African-American victim.

Found 1:00 am Sunday in lover's lane off Elizabeth Street, near the Paulsboro water tower.
Saundra Goldstein

Saundra Goldstein, 42
1979 July 3   Ocean Township, Monmouth County, NJ

Cause of death: 
ligature strangulation.

Forensic characteristics: murdered in own home - strangled - found fully clothed, face down between the kitchen and dining room. Strangled from behind with a gold chain and plastic strap of an identification card she was wearing around her neck, then stabbed six times in the chest post mortem.

Found in Continental Gardens Apartments. Arrived from work early Thursday afternoon on day of the murder according to neighbors who saw her parked car.

Vernon Jeter charged but acquitted of murder by jury in February 1980.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, 25-35
1979 September 22   Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ.

Cause of death: undetermined.

Forensic characteristics:  decapitated

1979 September 22, Jersey City, N.J. severed female head found floating in water off 1 Street Pier approximately 25-35 years of age. 

Karen Zadrovsky

Karen Lynn Zendrosky, 16  [MISSINGNamus Case #MP4592  
1979 October 23   Bordentown Township, Mercer County, NJ

Cause of death:  unknown.

Forensic characteristics: 
vanished Tuesday evening.

Zendrosky was last seen at a bowling alley which has since closed, in Bordentown Township, Mercer County, New Jersey on October 23, 1979.  She may have gone to a nearby lagoon with two or three men.  In 2005 police searched a sludge pit in Hamilton, Mercer County, but did not locate her remains.

Deedeh Goodarzi and Jane Doe

Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, & "Jane Doe" est. 17-19 [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ] CASE CLOSED 1984
1979 December 2,    515 W 42nd Street, New York, NY

Cause of death:  Goodarzi stab wound through the back to lung; "Jane Doe" undetermined.

Forensic characteristics:  double murder - Saturday/Sunday - sex workers - found in New York hotel - bodies set on fire on beds - cigarette burns to breast - genitals and anus burned selectively - one victim penetrative vaginal and anal rape - heads and hands severed and removed by the perpetrator from the scene (never found) - one victim stabbed - numerous shallow ante-mortem and post-mortem cuts and scratches from a knife on both victims - bruised and beaten - victims sedated with drug.

Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, a resident of 64 Laurel Place, Trenton, Mercer County, NJ, left for New York City on November 30, 1979 where she worked as an escort, operating from the Tittle Tattle Club near Second Avenue in the E 60s.

She was found 9:15 a.m. Sunday, December 2, in the Travel Inn Motel, Room 417 nude, decapitated and her hands amputated on a bed that had been set on fire.  There were numerous shallow cuts or scratches on the torso and legs (antemortem and postmortem) and bruises indicative of a beating.  Cause of death could not be determined due to the decapitation.  Head and hands were never found.  Her jewelry was missing but her clothes were found in the hotel bathtub.

The second victim "Jane Doe" was found on the other bed, likewise decapitated, hands amputated and covered in similar fine shallow cuts or scratches and bruises from a beating on her torso and legs.  

Serial killer Richard F. Cottingham, a resident of Bergen County, NJ, employed in New York, was convicted in the two murders (plus a third in New York) in 1984.   
Valerie Ann Street

Valerie Ann Street, 16 CASE CLOSED 1981  
1980 May 4   Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, NJ
   

Cause of death: asphyxia.

Forensic characteristics: prostitute - abducted from New York City - found in motel - nude - hidden under bed - b
low on the right side of the head and behind and below right ear - Bruised lip - traces of blood in nose and mouth - sharp delineated line in the neck from a ligature pulled from the right side of the body - traces of adhesive tape around mouth - nipples abraded and somewhat lacerated - three circular shallow lacerations around the breast - a laceration on mid-portion of sternum and left upper abdomen - bruising on legs - clothing and shoes missing - penetrative rape.

 

Valerie Ann Street, 16,  found handcuffed and completely naked under a bed in Quality Inn, Room # 132, Route 17, Hasbrouck Heights. 

Victim was a recently arrived from Florida prostitute picked up in New York City and driven to New Jersey.

Richard F. Cottingham convicted in murder in 1981.

Unidentified

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #1458, 15-20 est.,    Namus Case # UP1458
c. 1980    Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth, County, NJ

Cause of death: undetermined.

Forensic characteristics: unidentified female.

Facial reconstruction of of unidentified female found on December 10, 1988 in highly decomposed condition at Lower Bayside Drive in Atlantic Highlands, NJ off of the Sandy Hook Bay. Estimated to have been dead since c. 1980. 5'1" apx. 107 lbs. Hair/eye color unknown.

The victim was wearing knee-high socks and size 8.5 leather platform sandals with ankle straps. Bra with lace material in poor condition found near the body.