The Maplewood Township Committee agreed on April 18 to draft a resolution asking the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office to reopen an investigation into the 1966 murder of a Maplewood teenager.
Carol Ann Farino, 17, was last seen walking home from her waitress job at Milt’s Cup and Saucer (now the location of Anthony Garubo) in Maplewood on Nov. 3, 1966. She was found strangled with her own stocking in a driveway near her home. Her killer was never found, named or charged.
Her story was recently told in the book A Long Walk Home by Maplewood resident, former Maplewoodian blogger and journalist Joe Strupp.
Carol’s sister Cynthia, who was only 11 years old at the time of Carol’s murder, recently raised more than $1,500 with Strupp to have a bench dedicated to Carol’s memory near the Springfield Avenue Gazebo. The bench was placed and dedicated on April 15 with the help of TC member Jamaine Cripe.
Bench inscription at Springfield Avenue Gazebo
Strupp and Cynthia Farino contend that both the Maplewood Police and Prosecutor’s Office “have refused to reopen the case or even provide Cynthia Farino with information from their past investigations” despite their assertion that “[r]esearch has found law enforcement mishandled the investigation and chose to focus on people Carol knew, including her own father, rather than the likelihood of the killer being a stranger. Cynthia is also demanding that Carol’s clothes from that night be returned and tested for DNA evidence.”
On April 18, Maplewood Township Committee member Nancy Adams suggested drafting a resolution asking the ECPO to reopen the case. Maplewood Mayor Dean Dafis said he supported the idea.
Carol Ann Farino
“I just want to acknowledge that Mr. Strupp and I have spoken on several occasions about this since he began his advocacy and I’ve spoken to our Essex County Prosecutor Mr. [Theodore] Stephens about reopening the case and, in the least, meeting with Mr. Strupp and Cynthia and other members of the family, to meet with them and address their concerns,” said Dafis. “I was assured by Prosecutor Stephens that he and his team were going to do that. Apparently, it has not happened. ”
“Yes, I would support a resolution,” said Dafis.
Adams said she would work with Township Clerk Liz Fritzen to draft the resolution for approval at an upcoming TC meeting.
