Judy Cajuste Age 14 Murdered January 12, 2006 N.J.
Keeping Judy in the news By Dan Burns, Staff Writer Thursday, April 6, 2006 3:13 PM EDT ROSELLE, NJ - Magalie Cajuste sat wrapped in her sister’s arms at Heard AME Church on the evening of March 30, her teary eyes staring ahead at nothing in particular. She was there with more than 100 people, all of whom were there to help her, but she looked alone. Cajuste was at a meeting Roselle residents and politicians organized to discuss what they can do to help find the person who killed her daughter, Judy Cajuste, 14. Those in attendance questioned two of the people responsible for overseeing the case, Essex County Prosecutor Paula T. Dow and Sheriff Armando Fontoura. The Roselle Police Department has assisted in the investigation, but the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is the primary investigating agency since Cajuste’s body was found inside a Dumpster in Newark’s Weequahic Park. Many residents expressed their frustration that the case hasn’t been solved, but Dow assured everyone they are “aggressively pursuing” the case. Multiple detectives work on the Cajuste case almost every day, Dow said. Detectives have done “a host of interviews,” including between 20 and 30 people from the Abraham Clark High School community, according to Dow. They have also interviewed people near where Cajuste’s body was discovered and have sent forensic evidence to the state police laboratory in Hamilton for analysis. The forensic evidence will be useless, however, if they don’t have a suspect, according to Fontoura. “This is going to require cooperation. Any information or leads people have that they might have thought weren’t significant enough to report, please don’t hesitate to contact the Roselle Police Department or the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office,” Dow said. Roselle Police can be reached at 908-245-2000. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Homicide Squad can be reached at 973-621-4586. Dow and Fontoura would not discuss details of the case because it could compromise the ongoing investigation. They said they are pursuing “several leads.” Dow’s office still hasn’t confirmed media reports that Cajuste may have met her killer on a friend networking Web site. Dow did acknowledge her awareness of those reports at the meeting and urged parents to encourage “greater awareness of the downfalls of unsupervised activity on the Internet.” Cajuste was reported missing in Roselle on Jan. 12. At about 3 p.m. the next day, Essex County Department of Parks workers called police after finding Cajuste’s body in Weequahic Park. Officials initially thought they had found the body of a woman in her 20s, so they didn’t identify her as Cajuste until a week later. In the days after her body was identified, several of Cajuste’s friends told The Progress they believe the girl met her murderer online. Many of Cajuste’s friends also said they’ve taken more safety precautions in the wake of her death, though most feel blaming the Internet for her murder is a cop-out. Longtime Spruce Street resident John Cummins is skeptical that the murder will be solved at the present rate, because he knows of three cases aside from this one in Roselle history where a young woman was murdered and the case was never solved. To keep that from happening, officials are keeping this case in the news. That’s one of the reasons Mayor Garrett Smith set up a fund at the Roselle Savings Bank for increased reward money. He’s asking for donations to the account, in the hopes the increased money and exposure might encourage someone to come forward. Donations can be mailed to “Justice for Judy,” P.O. Box 9, Roselle, NJ 07203. Checks should be made payable to “Justice for Judy.” Donations should only be made via check, because a paper record of who donated will be kept. If the money isn’t awarded to anyone, those who donated will receive their money back, according to Smith. Anyone who provides information leading to an arrest in the case will be awarded the money and $10,000 from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Cajuste’s case also made headlines in the weeks following her death when Assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union, proposed a law requiring those convicted of murdering a child younger than the age of 16 be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. The bill is known as “Judy’s Law.” Magalie Cajuste’s sister, Teresa Cajuste, said the interaction between them and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has been “OK.” Her sister is very satisfied with the community response to her daughter’s murder, Teresa Cajuste said. Staff Writer Dan Burns can be reached at 908-686-7700, ext. 120, or theprogress@thelocalsource.com. http://www.localsource.com/articles/2006/04/11/the_progress/news/local/doc44340213a6061277797342.txt