NJ NJ - Gertrude Bizzaro, 72, Clifton, 18 Dec 2001

On the morning of Dec. 18, 2001, Cesaro Bizzaro left his home at 13 Sisco Place to drive his youngest daughter, June, to a hair appointment. The matriarch of the family, 72-year-old Gertrude, remained home to tend to chores.

When the father and daughter returned at 10 a.m., they found Gertrude Bizzaro's body in a pool of blood near the kitchen floor, a victim of multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest...

A law enforcement source who spent years investigating the case said the prime suspects included a group of teenagers heavily involved in drug usage... They were apprehended while committing a burglary not far from the Bizzaro residence, the source said this week, "and they remain strong suspects to this day."

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"They didn't just take my mother," Caron said, "they took Christmas and December and my birthday on Dec. 21."

Christmas used to be a special time, Caron said, adding it was her mother's favorite holiday. Since the murder, December is a very unhappy month.

"A week before Christmas every year I have to face this demon again," Caron said.

A mother's death would be difficult under any circumstances, but "to have her murdered right before Christmas, and to have it happen inside our home, which should have been a sacred place, that is especially difficult"...

Thinking back, Caron said it's very ironic how her mother fought so hard through two bouts of cancer and diabetes, along with other illnesses "to be with her family longer," then along comes "this person and takes her away from us."

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