The Murdered
NJ Cold Case
Carol Ann Farino
Maplewood, Essex County, NJ
Carol Farino was a 17 or 18 year old Columbia High School senior living at 5 Jefferson Ave, Maplewood, NJ. She had just left work as a part time waitress on Thursday, November 3, 1966 from Milt’s Cup and Saucer at 174 Maplewood at 7:30 PM. She stopped at George’s Luncheonette at 153 Maplewood for a soda and she spoke with the owner from about 7:35-7:50 PM, she had once worked at this place and knew the owner and his wife well. Carol was last seen by one of her friends at Maplewood Center at 193 Maplewood at 8:00 PM.
By 8:30 PM, Carol had been strangled with a stocking and dumped in the driveway of Vincent J. Vaccarella at 22 Sommer Ave. She was found five minutes later when Vincent and his wife were heading out in their car. The girl’s body had been brought to the driveway in a car and carried to a point about 20 feet from the curb. She was lying on her back, wearing a white waitress uniform. The buttons on the front of her uniform were open and her undergarments were in disarray. Her legs were exposed to the waist. Her shoes were missing and the only nylon stocking found at the scene was the one knotted tightly around her neck, so it is unclear whether the stocking was her own. The body was still warm when police arrived and it was estimated she was dead for about 25 minutes at that point. The only wound she seemed to have was the deep strangulation mark on her neck. The police theorized that this was a rape attempt gone wrong. They seem to think Carol was forced into a car by more than one individual and in attempting to rape Carol, the perpetrator(s) panicked upon realization that the stocking strangled and killed her.
A girl named Gail Gawlick was 16 at the time and worked with Carol Ann. She said that Carol had been followed by a man in a car that Monday as she walked to work from school.
Gail said that the man was tall, thin, and in his 20’s with light hair and a mustache. He had tried to persuade Carol Ann into getting into his late model blue Chevrolet. Once Carol reached her job, she told this man to “get lost” and the man replied “Okay, I’ll catch up to you some other time.”
The place Carol’s body was found is near to the Maplewood Country Club and about 8 blocks south of the girls home at 5 Jefferson Ave, which is only 3 blocks Northwest from where she worked. (Milts Cup and Saucer) which is in the center of town at 174 Maplewood Ave.
Carol Ann’s father, Frank, was a news delivery driver in Newark at the time. She also has a younger sister named Cynthia, who was 10 years old when her sister was killed.
Milton Miles, Carol’s employer said she had been working for him for two years and she was “very efficient, and very quiet.” That sentiment was echoed by her friends who said she was a good student and intended to go to college next year.
Her father says Carol would never have gotten into a car with someone she did not know unless she was forced.
Her case remains unsolved.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Essex County Sheriff’s office at 973 621 4111.
Sources:http://newjerseygirlmurders.com/cases.htm https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23481621/1966-05-nov-carol-ann-farino/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/92315511/carol-ann-farino
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