GUILTY NJ - Vincent Barbarino, 6, raped & murdered, Lodi, 5 April 1972

LODI, N.J. (AP) — In 1972, the body of a 6-year-old boy was found in the cab of a water truck at a construction site, nude and battered. He had been raped, stabbed and strangled.

Thirty-four years later, the boy's brother has been charged with his murder, and on Tuesday, a third sibling, Michael Barbarino, called on his family to help investigators prosecute him.

"I cannot and will not support my brother," Michael Barbarino said at a news conference.

Joseph Barbarino, 50, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and felony murder under juvenile statutes stemming from the April 5, 1972, death of his brother, Vincent Barbarino.

Barbarino, who was 15 at the time of the slaying, is being held without bail in the county jail.

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The prosecutor's office said it plans to decide later whether to seek to try him as an adult.

County Prosecutor John Molinelli said Monday at a news conference announcing Joseph Barbarino's arrest that the teenager lured his younger brother to a construction site intending to sexually assault him.

There was evidence of a struggle and the child's body was found in the cab of a water truck, he said. An autopsy indicated Vincent Barbarino had been stabbed numerous times and his skull had been fractured.

Molinelli said the elder Barbarino had been raping the child for "quite some time."

Immediately after Joseph Barbarino pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday, Michael Barbarino went before cameras outside the Bergen County Courthouse to denounce him and ask the rest of the family to tell investigators what they know about the killing.

He said he is asking everybody in the family to tell authorities what they know, "and stop hiding," he said.

His plea to family members to speak out was just the latest twist in a saga that has roiled the family -- and this Bergen County town -- for a generation.

Michael Barbarino, 38, was 3 years old when his brother Vincent was killed. He said he gave a statement to authorities in 1988.

"Other people in my family have spoken with the police," he said. "They are now sitting behind closed doors like they don't know nothing. I will not support that."

At the time, the killing spread fear throughout northern New Jersey, and the case prompted many parents here to keep their children indoors after school for weeks afterward.

Local and county authorities revisiting the old case developed new forensic evidence that did not include DNA, said Michael Mordaga, chief of detectives for the prosecutor's office. Mordaga said Michael Barbarino would be a key witness in the case, but that others were also expected to give crucial testimony.

The Barbarino family is well known to police.

On Christmas Day 1995, Michael Barbarino held police at bay for two hours, threatening to shoot himself and any officer who got too near him, said Police Chief Vincent Caruso, who was a hostage negotiator that day and ultimately persuaded Barbarino to surrender.

Barbarino was not armed, and he was referred for psychiatric evaluation, the chief said. "He was in a garage and said he had a handgun and he was going to shoot the first police officer through the door," Caruso said.

Michael Barbarino also served three years in prison for burglary and was jailed a year later for setting fire to an apartment building.

Joseph Barbarino, a married plumber's assistant who lives at home with his mother, has a criminal history dating to 1979, when he served six months in jail for assault with a deadly weapon. He also has served time in prison for burglary and arson.
http://www.courttv.com/news/2006/1115/barbarino_ap.html

I hope and pray that someone answers the brother's pleas and come forward with any information about the crime. This story makes my stomach ache and I hope they try him as an adult. This man should never walk the streets again.

amen sister!

I'm kinda concerned that there is no DNA evidence, and the brother who is the one making the allegations has a history of psychiatric problems, plus he was only 3 when the murder occured. How can he know much about what happened? How can he remember accurately the events that occured when he was just 3 years old?

I hope the DA has something WAY stronger than what I'm reading here, or this case will go nowhere fast.

kgeaux said:

I'm kinda concerned that there is no DNA evidence, and the brother who is the one making the allegations has a history of psychiatric problems, plus he was only 3 when the murder occured. How can he know much about what happened? How can he remember accurately the events that occured when he was just 3 years old?

I hope the DA has something WAY stronger than what I'm reading here, or this case will go nowhere fast.

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I guess if it was traumatic enough he could. I remember a car accident we were in when I was 3, but that's the only memory I have of that age, I guess b/c it was traumatic at the time and it stuck with me.

kgeaux said:

I'm kinda concerned that there is no DNA evidence, and the brother who is the one making the allegations has a history of psychiatric problems, plus he was only 3 when the murder occured. How can he know much about what happened? How can he remember accurately the events that occured when he was just 3 years old?

I hope the DA has something WAY stronger than what I'm reading here, or this case will go nowhere fast.

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You have brought up very valid points here, I wonder if even though Michael was only 3 when the crime occurred if it WAS his brother who committed the crime that it wasn't something talked about through his years of growing up? (That might be enough to push a person over the edge in terms of Michael's psychiatric state later in life?)

It would seem that the DNA evidence they lacked when the crime was committed could be available now that technology has arrived? Also, Michael's testimony doesn't appear to be all they are expecting at trial, maybe someone has come forth with damning information?

Update...

Two weeks ago Joseph Barbarino was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his brother Vincent. I found that information in this article which discusses how Joseph and his other brothers were given a "truth serum" in the 1970s or 1980s before giving witness statements, however none of these statements were used in the recent trial.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/071811_Truth_serum_tried_in_boys_1972_Lodi_slaying.html?c=y&page=2

It was a killing with biblical echoes, prosecutors said: a man accused of repeatedly stabbing his brother 39 years ago while another brother watched in horror.

The recent cold-case murder trial of Joseph Barbarino of Lodi came with another twist: Decades ago, as the case grew cold, Joseph Barbarino and his brothers were given sodium amytal, a so-called “truth serum” that was once thought to help suspects and witnesses tell the truth.

None of the statements obtained through the use of the drug were admitted at the Hackensack trial, which ended two weeks ago, when a judge convicted Joseph Barbarino of murdering 6-year-old Vincent Barbarino on April 5, 1972.

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One must also wonder: if the murdered brother was indeed being raped over a long period of time by Joseph, it is entirely possible the next victim for those attentions eventually became Michael, who was three at the time of Vincent's death. If that is the case, it is entirely possible that Michael was controlled by threats and bragging regarding what happens to those who don't go along with the program. Severe trauma over a long period of time can and does sometimes result in psychiatric upsets down the road.

Or it is equally possible that Michael has severe psychiatric issues and Joesph being responsible for Vincent's death is all just part of his delusion.

It will be interesting to see just what LE has on this case and how they are tying Joseph to it.

WOW, ETA just read how old this thread was and the last post above. I am off to go and read about what happened in the trial and what evidence came out. Very interesting case!

A key witness has become a third brother, Michael, who was only 4 years old at the time but insists he remembers the murder. Authorities said Joseph raped Michael that night, as well.

Sister Ann Barbarino Crane is openly supporting her accused brother. She says Michael concocted the murder tale as revenge against his brother for molesting him.

Several years ago, Ann tipped off detectives that Michael was carrying a loaded gun -- for which he ended up spending six years in prison.

With both brothers locked up at the same time, investigators planted a recording device on Michael, hoping to get Joseph to confess the murder to him. Michael, instead, told his brother he was wired.

Cops who knew him said Joe Barbarino was a troubled kid sheltered by his mother, even though he bullied other neighborhood youngsters.

That hasn’t seemed to change over the years. Michael is the only one who’s been willing to defend his dead brother’s memory and challenge Joseph, who married Michael's ex-wife.

http://cliffviewpilot.com/bergen/19...f-raping-killing-brother-in-lodi-38-years-ago

“This tragedy is the killing of a brother by a brother, witnessed by … a brother,” Wayne Mello, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor, said as Barbarino’s murder trial opened Tuesday in Superior Court in Hackensack.

Barbarino, now 54, is standing trial in juvenile court in the cold-case murder of his brother, Vincent. One of the key witnesses against Joseph Barbarino is his other brother, Michael, who was 4 years old at the time and has told authorities that he saw Joseph Barbarino stab Vincent.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/cri...rdering_his_brother_40_years_ago.html?csort=1

Bergen County prosecutors say Barbarino was 15 years old when he plunged a knife into his brother Vincent after the 6-year-old spurned his sexual advances. The 20-year term was the maximum he could get because he was a juvenile at the time.
Another younger brother testified that he tried to help Vincent but was overpowered by Joseph.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/bergen_county_man_sentenced_to.html

What a very long time for resolution to a case. RIP Vincent.

How horrible for Vincent and all the generations of family knowing and walking on egg shells, and the continued abuse. Just a horrible story. Tragedy for so many.

Boyz_Mum said:

I hope and pray that someone answers the brother's pleas and come forward with any information about the crime. This story makes my stomach ache and I hope they try him as an adult. This man should never walk the streets again.

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This killer has had years of freedom that he should never have had. He will be tried by the laws in the year that the murder took place which will be nothing like they are today. That is WRONG. When a person who has murdered another person is finally caught...the KILLER SHOULD BE TRIED BY THE LAWS OF THE YEAR HE IS CAUGHT IN.......NOT THE YEAR THAT THE CRIME TOOK PLACE IN. I hate it that that is the way the judicial system works. They are thinking of trying the killer as an adult!!! Forget how old he was when he committed the crime...only focus on the AGE HE IS NOW. This darn judicial system needs an over haul. This law needs to be changed!!!

He is serving 50 years for sex with an underage female relative. (11 to 13 years apparently.)
He is eligible for parole when he is 95 years old.

He got 20 years for killing his 6 year old brother when he "spurned his sexual advances."
(Seriously, hello people... the 6 year old was killed when he fought back during a rape. End of story.)

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/bergen_county_man_sentenced_to.html

kgeaux said:

I'm kinda concerned that there is no DNA evidence, and the brother who is the one making the allegations has a history of psychiatric problems, plus he was only 3 when the murder occured. How can he know much about what happened? How can he remember accurately the events that occured when he was just 3 years old?

I hope the DA has something WAY stronger than what I'm reading here, or this case will go nowhere fast.

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Here is my guess. The 3 yr old was probably raped during his childhood, as he kind of replaced his dead brother. And that would explain how he figured out who the child rapist was, and even why he had mental issues later on in life.