December 4, 1980Cape May County, New JerseyJosephine Trombetta (29) is tortured for 6 hours before being driven to a remote location and killed On the evening of December 4, Trombetta (29) visited her former boyfriend, Curtis Smith, at his uncle’s home. Accompanying Smith were his mother (Frances (Smith) Camp), his stepfather (Leroy Camp), his uncle…
Unsolved: unknown woman found frozen in 3” puddle of blood
March 25, 1887 Rahway, New Jersey An unidentified woman is found murdered The woman, described as in her early 20s with brown hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in good quality clothing and fur. Her body was found by four brothers who immediately reported the discovery to authorities. The body was frozen to the…
Double hanging — one execution is botched, the other involves a man who was mentally ill or disabled
January 3, 1884 Newark, New Jersey Two men are executed for murder in a double hanging The execution of Robert Martin, convicted of killing his wife and their infant as she held the baby, was botched. The Harrisburg Independent reported “the poor wretch who was condemned to suffer death at the hands of the law…
Teenager killed, believed by some to have been “sacrificed”
August 7, 1972 Springfield Township, New Jersey Jeannette DePalma (16) goes missing; her body is found a month later DePalma left her home, telling her mother she was going to visit a friend. When she did not arrive at the friend’s house or back home, a missing person report was filed. On September 19, a…
Megan Kanka, namesake for Megan’s Law, is murdered
July 29, 1994 Hamilton Township, New Jersey 7-year-old Megan Kanka is abducted, raped, and murdered by twice-convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas Timmendequas had previously pleaded guilty to the attempted sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in 1979 and the sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl in 1981; the second victim was choked until she was…
