OUR BROTHER, BILL HAS BEEN MISSING FOR 34 YEARS TODAY. HE DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE IN 1981.

NUMEROUS PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS FOUND NO CONCLUSIVE INFORMATION RELATIVE TO BILL’S DISAPPEARANCE OR THAT OF HIS CAR, WHICH ALSO HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND.

INITIALLY REPORTED TO THE ROSELLE PARK (NJ) POLICE DEPARTMENT (RPPD), OUR FAMILY BECAME AWARE ONLY AFTER THE FACT THAT THE RPPD DELAYED FOR A WEEK OR MORE BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE WAS FORMALLY REPORTED TO THE FBI. MOREOVER, THE DETECTIVE INTIALLY IN CHARGE BRANDED BILL WITH HIGHLY DEROGATORY NAMES NO MOTHER SHOULD EVER HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT HER CHILD. AFTER MANY YEARS. AND VERY LITTLE INVESTIGATION, THE CHIEF OF THE ROSELLE PARK PD AGREED TO MEET WITH A WORLD RENOWNED FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST RETAINED, OF COURSE, BY OUR FAMILY, WHO IS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THE VIDOCQ SOCIETY. AFTER SEVERAL SCHEDULED MEETINGS WERE CANCELLED BY THE CHIEF, HE INFORMED US THAT HIS DEPARTMENT WAS REALLY NOT EQUIPPED AND STAFFED TO MEET WITH THIS FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST AND HANDLE OUR BROTHER’S CASE/INVESTIGATION. THIS - AFTER 19 YEARS. AT THAT POINT, OUR FAMILY INSISTED THAT THE ENTIRE ‘INVESTIGATION’ BE TURNED OVER TO THE NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE MISSING PERSONS UNIT (NJSPMPU).

THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED APPROXIMATELY 15 YEARS AGO. THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW SPURTS OF ACTIVE INVESTIGATION MOSTLY PROMPTED BY OUR FAMILY. AT OUR FIRST MEETING WITH THE THEN HEAD OF THE NJSP MISSING PERSONS UNIT WE WERE ADVISED  - AFTER ALL THESE YEARS – THAT BILL DID NOT FIT THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ‘AN ENDANGERED MISSING PERSON’, AND THUS HE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ENTERED IN THE NIC/NCIC DATA BASE MAINTAINED BY THE FBI. UPON CHECKING WITH THE FBI WE FOUND THIS NOT THE CASE. ONE THING THAT HAS BEEN MADE EMINENTLY AND PAINFULLY CLEAR TO OUR FAMILY IS THAT AN ADULT MALE IS VIEWED BY THE POLICE AS ‘TAKING OFF’, ‘OUT ON A BENDER’, ETC. THEY DO NOT TAKE THESE CASES AS SERIOUSLY AS THEY SHOULD.

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NJSP HAS REFUSED ALL THESE YEARS TO MEET WITH OUR FAMILY. THE NJSPMPU HAS REFUSED TO MEET WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST, WITHOUT REASON. PERHAPS, IT IS BECAUSE HE WAS ONE OF A TEAM THAT SOLVED THE INFAMOUS LIST FAMILY MURDERS IN NJ!! AND THEY WERE EMBARASSED. THEY SHOULD BE, BUT THEY SHOULD ALSO BE PROFESSIONAL ENOUGH TO DO THEIR JOBS.

OUR FAMILY HAS CONSISTENTLY REQUESTED REPORTS AND INFORMATION ABOUT WHATEVER THE NJSPMPU IS DOING AND COPIES OF BILL’S FILES. WE ARE ADVISED THAT BILL’S CASE IS AN ACTIVE INVESTIGATION AND THAT THEY CANNOT PROVIDE US WITH INFORMATION WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING THE ‘INVESTIGATION’ FOR NUMEROUS REASONS THE MOST RIDICULOUS OF WHICH IS THAT ALL FAMILY MEMBERS ARE VIEWED AS POTENTIAL SUSPECTS (‘PERSONS OF INTEREST’ IN TODAY’S POLICE PARLANCE). OUR ENTIRE FAMILY ASKED TO BE INTERVIEWED (CAN YOU BELIEVE 34 YEARS AFTER A MAN AND HIS CAR DISAPPEAR NOT ONE OF BILL’S 9 BROTHERS AND SISTERS HAVE BEEN INTERVIEWED BY ANY POLICE IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CASE??), TO BE THE SUBJECT OF LIE DETECTOR TESTS, TO WAIVE ALL RIGHTS TO A TRIAL AND THE RELATED DEFENSE IF, IN FACT, ANY OF US WERE CHARGED (THIS IS HOW SURE WE ARE) BUT THIS WAS ALL TO NO AVAIL.

LET US CLARIFY ONE POINT IN THE PRECEDING PARAGRAPH. WITHIN THE LAST 10 YEARS, 5 OF BILL’S BROTHERS MADE A TRIP TO ROSELLE PARK AND NEARBY TOWNS TRACING WHERE BILL WAS ON HIS ‘LAST’ NIGHT. WE HAD VISITED KENILWORTH, LINDEN AND ROSELLE AND THEN MADE OUR WAY TO ROSELLE PARK. WE WERE PULLED OVER BY TWO RPPD POLICE CRUISERS AND TWO OFFICERS APPROACHED OUR VEHICLE WITH HANDS ON THEIR WEAPONS. WE INQUIRED AS TO WHY WE WERE BEING PULLED OVER AND THEY STATED THAT THERE HAD BEEN COMPLAINTS AND WE WERE ACTING SUSPICIOUSLY – THAT IS PROBABLY TRUE BECAUSE WE DID CHECK OUT SOME GROUNDS NEAR BILL’S APARTMENT IN ROSELLE PARK, AND TRIED TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER OR NOT A BODY COULD HAVE BEEN DUMPED OR BURIED IN THE CRAWL SPACE UNDER HIS BUILDING.

TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE THIS MAKES THE FIRST TIME IN BILL’S ‘INVESTIGATION’ WHEN SOMEONE WAS ACTUALLY STOPPED AND QUESTIONED – AND THEY WERE 5 OF BILL’S BROTHERS. WE WERE ADVISED BY THE CHIEF OF THE RPPD THAT THIS WAS STILL AN ACTIVE INVESTGATION AND WE COULDNOT DO AN INVESTIGATION ON OUR OWN.

WE DO WANT YOU TO KNOW THERE HAVE BEEN SOME TRULY WONDERFUL OFFICERS, TROOPERS AND DETECTIVES INVOLVED IN TRYING TO FIND BILL. HOWEVER, THEIR NUMBERS CAN BE COUNTED ON ONE HAND AS FAR AS THIS FAMILY KNOWS. CANDIDLY, THE MISSING PERSONS DEPARTMENT AT THE NJSP IS LIKE A REVOLVING DOOR. A DETECTIVE GETS THE CASE, MAYBE HAS A CHANCE TO READ THE FILE, AND DO A LITTLE, AND THEN HE/SHE IS SENT TO ANOTHER UNIT.

ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, THE FAMILY WENT THROUGH EXHAUSTIVE MEASURES AND SECURED APPROVAL FOR A SEARCH IN AND AROUND THE LINDEN PD FIRING RANGE. WE INVITED THE NJSP AND ITS MISSING PERSONS UNIT MEMBERS, THE ROSELLE PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE LINDEN POLICE DEPARTMENT TO BE IN ATTENDANCE AND TO HELP US SEARCH. ONLY OFFICERS FROM THE LINDEN PD WERE THERE. THEIR HELP, AND THE RESULTANT FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF SOME BONES, WAS EXPEDITIOUS AND PROFESSIONAL.

THE LACK OF PARTICIPATION BY THE NJSP AND THE NJSPMPU AND THE RPPD WAS JUST PAR FOR THE COURSE AS TO THE WAY OUR BROTHER, A HIGHLY DECORATED VETERAN OF THE VIETNAM WAR IN WHICH HE FLEW HELICOPTERS ON ALL KINDS OF MISSIONS, HAS BEEN TREATED.

SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP US  AND FEEL LIKE REALLY SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS, PLEASE CALL THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE ( Col. Rick Fuentes 609-882-2000)             AND THE CHIEF OF THE ROSELLE PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT ( Paul Morrison 908-245-2300), OR IF YOU RESIDE IN NEW JERSEY, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL AND FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS AND ASK THEM TO HELP, OR CONTACT GOVENOR, CHRIS CHRISTIE AT (609-292-6000).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN BILL’S CASE, AND PLEASE COMMENT WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS.