SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: August 25, 1969 from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 17 years old
Height and Weight: 5'7, 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Calandriello's hair was cut in a page boy at the time of her disappearance, and she wore thick eyeglasses. She has bushy eyebrows.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A sleeveless shirt, yellow shorts and no shoes or socks.
Details of Disappearance
Calandriello was last seen at her family's home in the 90 block of Center Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey at 6:00 p.m. on August 25, 1969. Her mother gave her two dollars and sent her out to buy milk and ice pops for the family's dinner. The store was only two blocks away, and Calandriello was expected to return home within a few minutes, but she never arrived. She has never been heard from again. Her mother reported her disappearance to the police two hours after she was last seen.
Calandriello is the youngest of four children and the only child still living with her parents by the time of her disappearance. She had only recently started dating, had no steady boyfriend, and was generally kept very sheltered by her family. She was not allowed out at night without being accompanied by her parents, and she was afraid of the dark. At the time of her disappearance, her father was in poor health and taken leave from his job as a result. Calandriello assumed many household responsibilities, including shopping for groceries and paying bills, due to her father's illness. Her parents never believed she ran away from home, as this was extremely uncharacteristic of her behavior.
When authorities canvassed the area, they found four of Calandriello's high school classmates who claimed to have seen her riding in a car with a stranger, an older male. The vehicle was described as a beat-up white Ford Galaxy convertible. The boys followed the car in their own vehicle for a few blocks, because they were curious about seeing Calandriello with a man. The police made a composite drawing of the unidentified man based off the boys' descriptions. After this sighting was reported in the newspapers, a woman told investigators that a man matching the sketch and driving a similar car had offered a ride to her twelve-year-old daughter and her daughter's friend. He made the offer on three separate occasions and also offered to give the girls some wine. The girls had memorized the vehicle's license plate and police determined it belonged to Robert Zarinsky. Photographs of him are posted below this case summary.
Zarinsky had a history of antisocial and criminal behavior dating back to his childhood, and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. After linking him to Calandriello's disappearance, authorities arrested him for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. This charge was connected to his allegedly offering alcohol to underage girls, but police believed he had also harmed Calandriello. He was seen washing the trunk of his Ford Galaxy after Calandriello went missing, something he rarely did. When authorities inspected the car, the window and door handles on the passenger side were absent. One of Calandriello's hair clips was found on the floor of the vehicle, and in the backseat was a pair of women's panties. Calandriello's mother identified the panties as her daughter's, but Zarinsky's wife stated they were hers. A ball-peen hammer with a bloodstained hair stuck to the end was also located. After his arrest, Calandriello's four high school classmates identified Zarinsky as the man they had seen with her on the evening of her disappearance. While he was in jail, he allegedly confessed Calandriello's murder to a cellmate, and said no one would ever find her body.
Zarinsky was eventually convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but his conviction was overturned on appeal and he was released. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) analyzed the bloody hair found in his car and linked it to another teenager, Linda Balabanow, whose body was found in the Raritan River in Port Reading, New Jersey four months before Calandriello disappeared. She had been strangled with an electrical cord. Authorities suspected Zarinsky had killed her and also murdered Joanne Delardo and Donna Carlucci, two teenage girls from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, who were both also strangled with an electrical cord. There was not enough evidence to prosecute in any of the cases, however.
In 1974, Zarinsky was charged with Calandriello's murder on the basis of circumstantial evidence. He was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to ninety-eight years in prison. He was the first person in the state of New Jersey to be convicted of murder when the victim's body had not been found. In 1999, he was additionally charged murder in the 1958 shooting death of Charles Bernoskie, a police officer. He was acquitted, but Bernoskie's widow won a $9.5 million civil judgement against him after the criminal trial was over. Authorities believe Zarinsky is a serial killer; he is a suspect in several murders besides the one he was charged with, and his own sister attributed as many as ten homicides to him.
At one of his parole hearings, Zarinsky stated he had killed Calandriello accidentally. He said he had driven her to a local lover's lane and she had gotten drunk and left his vehicle to relieve herself, and he accidentally backed over her and killed her. Prior to making this statement, for years he had denied having even ever met Calandriello. He has been denied parole twice and remains incarcerated.
Calandriello's remains have never been located, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Atlantic Highlands Police Department
732-291-1212
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Atlantic Highlands Police Department
732-291-1212
Charley Project