The Murdered Joan Carole Freeman

The Murdered
NJ Cold Case
Joan Carole Freeman
Passaic County

Joan Freeman was a hard working 22 year old woman working overtime on Saturday, August 31st, 1968 at her secretary job for the internationally known pharmaceutical firm “Hoffmann-LaRoche,” a huge campus located on the Nutley/Clifton New Jersey border. Joan was recording employees’ hours from time cards in a second-floor medical library in building 34, which is security-gated. At about 5:30pm, Joan was struck on her head from behind with a wooden mallet, which was found at the scene. She was also struck repeatedly in the face, and her throat was slashed, cut to the depth of the spine. Several hours after she was killed, a guard making a routine sweep of the building was the one to find her. Strangely, according to Clifton Police Chief Joseph Nee, Miss Freeman did not work in building 34 where the body was found. 
Joan’s ultimate cause of death was a skull fracture from being hit with the wooden mallet. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not she was sexually assaulted, however, some sources have stated that she was found clothed, and that there was no evidence pointing to penetrative rape. 
During the next few weeks afterward, detectives interviewed and performed background checks on more than 300 people, including all of the guards who were on duty that day. Dozens of people took polygraph tests but police declined to say if they had a suspect. Because of the restricted access to the campus, detectives were certain it was a co-worker who committed the crime. The wooden mallet yielded no fingerprints and the weapon used to slash her throat was never found.
Joan was a former Passaic Valley High School cheerleader who graduated in 1964, and had no known enemies, no habits or relationships that might have motivated her brutal demise. She was a B average student and, after graduating, she attended a New York secretarial school before joining the Hoffmann-LaRoche firm. Her older brother Raymond described his sister as “a very attractive, well-liked, friendly and outgoing girl.” He also added that he thinks Joan made friends easily and was too trusting. Joan’s mother, Mrs. Bertram Freeman, said her daughter did have a boyfriend but was not engaged. 
Joan’s murder remains unsolved.

If you have any information about this crime, please call the Clifton Police Department at 973-470-5900.

Sources:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7657058/joan-freeman-courier-post/

http://newjerseygirlmurders.com/cases.htm 

https://www.nj.com/news/2015/02/from_the_archives_in_hunt_for_killer_police_will_r.html#incart_story_package

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/nj-joan-freeman-22-clifton-31-august-1968.270576/

https://markmuellerjournalism.com/2015/02/08/death-in-the-water-tank/

12 thoughts on “The Murdered Joan Carole Freeman”

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    1. Hello Joe! I am hoping to make a podcast episode about Joan’s case! Running a website solo is time consuming so I am working on it!

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    1. Not yet im afraid. I will try to get going on a podcast for Joan asap. Sorry for the inconvenience. Its just me running the site ☺️

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      1. Ashleigh,

        Keep me in the loop. I was actually scanning for a 1999/2000 Hoffmann-LaRoche suicide I’ve been meaning to blog on for ages but haven’t had time (LOL). They changed their name after that incident.

        I’m keenly interested in crimes associated with Hoffmann-LaRoche, now just Roche but when I saw the Joan Freeman murder I was blown away. The secrecy of the murder from all accounts is interesting.

        Hoffmann-LaRoche (Roche) has a long history of criminality.

        I’ve commenced my first Criminology blog on Joan which I’ll build as I work things out. I’ll also add another post on the 1999/2000 suicide. Link: https://quinismdespatches.substack.com/p/hoffmann-laroche-files-the-murder

        Oh, Joan wasn’t the first victim of Hoffmann-LaRoche in the USA. Did you know about the experiments at Joliet?

        https://quinismdespatches.substack.com/p/from-the-pages-of-history-stateville

        I’m looking at this at a completely different angle from you but if I find anything of interest, I’ll pass it on.

        Kudos.

        Shane

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  3. Hello Ashleigh, I’m a former Roche employee who has some interesting information concerning Joan’s murder. If you are interested, please contact me.

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      3. Here is what I know about Joan’s murder;

        My #1 Suspect: At a party, Joan’s roommate told me that a fellow employee had asked her out three times, she turned him down (MOTIVE).

        Suspect lived in Richfield Village garden apartments in the Clifton Ave/Allwood Rd area.

        On sabbatical attending Columbia University, HLR let him retain his employee ID card to use the library for research purposes to obtain his master degree (OPPORTUNITY).

        Large wooden mallets were used to break up blocks of dry ice used in experiments. The authorities obtained this.

        Every lab had plenty of paring knives and gloves.

        Not only was there large blunt force trauma to her head, her throat was cut multiple times back to the vertebra (CRIME OF PASSION).

        Victim was found in a closet containing a punch card machine that Joan was operating at the time. It was located off of a hall connecting the 2nd floor of bldg 76 with the 3rd floor of bldg 34. Joan worked in the basement of bldg 34.

        The library was on the 2nd floor of bldg 76 (CLOSE PROXIMETRY).

        Had motive. Found a mallet with no fingerprints. Suspect probably wore gloves. Had opportunity. All locations were close to one another. Occurred on a Saturday (ESSENTIALY NO EMPLOYEES WERE AROUND).

        My #1 suspect had anger management issues. I have seen him in a blow up argument with a female co-worker that was loud and extremely out of place. Two incidents involving women (MIND SET).

        The family moved away and changed their name.

        Roche had enormous amounts of money. Enough to move the family anywhere they wanted to go in the world and pay for all of their expenses for life just to keep them and anyone else quiet. HLR was very image conscious. There were several other instances that I know of that weren’t bandied about much by the media.

        Besides Joan’s roommate, I received a first hand account from the first Clifton police officer who arrived on the scene. Originally, Nutley police were called but, Clifton was notified after it was determined that the border ran through either 34 or 76 putting her in Clifton. He gave me a pretty graphic description.

        There was another person I will call suspect #2. As of this date, I am not sure which one had the argument with the fellow employee or was the one who was attending Columbia.

        Approximately two years later a technician, as reported in the Herald News, was found deceased in bldg 86. The coroner ruled this a suicide. Because 150 grams of potassium cyanide was found inside of his stomach, way more than would kill a horse and a person in his position would know that a lot less was necessary, some sources reasoned this was somehow forced upon him and it was murder. Could this have been Joan’s killer?

        As a result, I was one of the volunteers who was asked to work overtime and sit with Joan’s co-workers, all women, in the basement of bldg 34.

        Closure is long overdue.

        Jerry

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