NJ NJ - Sharon Thor, 15, Franklin Township, 26 October 1982

[:+:MrTT:+:]

http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2009/09/new_development_in_27-year-old.html

New development in 27-year-old murder of Franklin Township teen

By Nic Corbett/For The Star-Ledger

September 30, 2009, 7:01PM

SOMERVILLE -- A breakthrough may be brewing in a decades-old cold case, the 1982 slaying of a 15-year-old Franklin Township girl who disappeared from her home one fall evening after getting a mysterious phone call.
Twenty-seven years later, a hearing concerning new evidence in the cold case was scheduled to be heard today at the Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville. But Judge Paul Armstrong didn’t show up, possibly due to some mix-up. His clerk said the judge was in New Brunswick and wouldn’t return.
According to Sharon Ransavage, a Flemington defense attorney who represents a potential suspect in the case, the hearing was about obtaining a DNA sample and a motion to hold her client in “investigative” custody. She would not name her client, whom she called “the defendant,” but said holding someone in investigative custody does not require police to have a standard as high as probable cause.
On Oct. 26, 1982, Sharon Thor had hurried out of her home after a brief conversation with someone she appeared pleasantly surprised to hear from, according to her mother. She was supposed to return home within 15 minutes to leave for her twice-weekly ballet dance lesson. The last time Thor was seen, she was leaving in a car with a loud muffler driven by a white man with dark hair.
She was found dead three days later in a wooded area off John E. Busch Avenue, a quarter-mile away. An autopsy determined she had been beaten to death about an hour after she left home.
Before leaving the courthouse today, the defense attorney met with Assistant Prosecutor Tim Van Hise privately. Van Hise declined to comment. Nor would he say when the hearing would be re-scheduled.
The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office started a cold case squad seven and a half years ago to re-examine four unsolved killings, including that of Thor, according to a 2003 story in the New Jersey Lawyer.
“In the Thor case,” Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest was quoted then as saying, “there were things the assailant may have been grabbing hard, so we might be able to find DNA on it.”
According to a Star-Ledger story that ran a week after her death, detectives identified the weapons used to bludgeon the teen: a bloodied cinder block and a piece of two-by-four lumber found near her body.


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[OkieGranny]

Somerset County's Cold Case of the Week for May 11, 2015:

http://thesomersetcountynews.com/20...y-cold-case-of-the-week-sharon-thor-homicide/

 

[dotr]

Could this have been some sort of revenge against one of Sharon's 4 brothers?
Rbbm. imo, speculation.

Sharon Thor wearing a costume for one of her dance recitals.
(Photo: ~Courtesy of the Thor family
Sharon Thor appeared in a performance of "The Nutcracker" at Plainfield High School in December 1981.
(Photo: ~Courtesy of the Thor family)

No more dancing
Oct 18 2019 Lengthy article.
NJ cold case: Franklin High School student found beaten to death in the woods 37 years ago
"You don't forget. It's sad it's never been resolved. My dad passed never knowing, and my mother feels she might, too, and it kills her. A mother and child is a special bond," said Torrado, adding the family wants to know who is responsible and why his sister was killed.

Sonia believes two people were involved in her daughter's death.

"One person, Sharon would have had a chance. Strong girl, she was strong," she said.

Her daughter possessed a temper which would make her stronger and as the only girl in a family of four boys, she knew how to hold her own, Sonia said."
"I was home and she (Sharon) was home. I was in my room fixing something or putting something away and the phone rang in the kitchen. Sharon answered the phone. She hung up and said to me, ‘Mom, I'll be right back,'"

A neighborhood child reported seeing Sharon getting into a car near her home. Two white men were in the vehicle, the prosecutor's office reported in 2009.

The two men in the vehicle were believed to be in their late teens or early 20s and lived in Franklin, the prosecutor's office reported. The caller and driver of the vehicle have never been identified."

"Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson said Sharon’s case is still being actively investigated by his office.

"We are dedicated to providing resources to cold case investigations and realize the importance of providing closure to the families and justice to the victims. Sharon Thor’s life was cut short and we hope that with the assistance of the public, we can pursue new leads to solve this case,” Robertson said.

A $5,000 reward continues to be offered by the Crime Stoppers of Somerset County for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Sharon’s death.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or via the STOPit app, using access code SOMERSETNJ, which allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos.

Information also can be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports and/or Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential. "

Sonia wishes police and prosecutors had done more to find her daughter and her daughter's killer. She says parents of other high school students didn't want their children questioned.

A state medical examiner office autopsy determined Sharon died of a beating. She suffered multiple fractures of her ribs and head as well as internal hemorrhaging. Investigators believed Sharon may possibly have been sexually abused since her jeans and shirt had been partially removed.

A cinderblock and 2-by-4-inch piece of wood found near her body are believed to have been used to kill her. Sharon may have known the assailants, the prosecutor's office revealed a decade ago.

Sharon’s body and face were so damaged, the funeral home had to turn her body in the casket to hide it, her mother says.

"What a shame. I didn't have problems with anyone, the problem came to me," she said."

 

[rob525]

So, did anything ever come out of the hearing mentioned in the first article? I tried searching for any follow up but so far have not found anything. Some recent articles do not even mention this development. To me it is strange that prosecutors are going to trial to get DNA and a motion for investigative custody but then nothing.

 

[dotr]

Hoping DNA can be sent to Othram so that they can identify the two culprits, who knows what else they may have done to others in NJ and maybe elsewhere too? imo, speculation.


Oct 26 2022 rbbm.
Suzanne Russell

40 years, no answers in killing of Franklin High School student

No one has ever been arrested in connection with the 1982 murder of Franklin High School student Sharon Thor

www.mycentraljersey.com

''Three days after her disappearance on Oct. 26, 1982, Sharon’s body was found in a wooded area off a dirt road not far from the family's John E. Busch Avenue home. An autopsy revealed she had been dead since around 6:30 p.m. the day she disappeared.

A neighborhood child reported seeing Sharon getting into a car near her home. Two men were in the vehicle, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office reported in 2009. The two men were believed to be in their late teens or early 20s and lived in Franklin, the prosecutor's office said. The caller and driver of the vehicle have never been identified.''

Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said the investigation into the murder of Sharon Thor remains an active homicide investigation by the Major Crimes Unit.

“On the 40th Anniversary of the senseless homicide of Sharon Thor, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office expresses their deepest condolences to the surviving family members. Investigators have never stopped investigating Sharon’s murder and will continue to do so with the hopes that someone in the public will come forward with any information that can assist investigators with any new leads to solve this case,” the prosecutor said.''

''Sonia Thor also believed her daughter, who was strong growing up in a family with four boys, was attacked by two people, because she would have been able to fend off just one person.''

''Sharon, who was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, a gold chain necklace with a charm and red-striped sweater, ran out of the house without her purse or brush – two things she never left home without – into a waiting car down the street, according to news reports.''

''Anyone with information about Sharon Thor’s murder is urged to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or via the STOPit app, using access code SOMERSETNJ, which allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos.

''Information also can be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports and/or Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.''

 

[tilomagnet]

This sounds like a solveable case....she most likely knew her killers and it was probably not a planned murder. The description provided is awefully sparse, even if the witness was a child, the color and size or type of vehicle should be known. Franklin TWP was a small town back then, if the culprits were locals it is baffling this has been unsolved for so long.

 

[rob525]

This sounds like a solveable case....she most likely knew her killers and it was probably not a planned murder. The description provided is awefully sparse, even if the witness was a child, the color and size or type of vehicle should be known. Franklin TWP was a small town back then, if the culprits were locals it is baffling this has been unsolved for so long.

I know that there was a "potential suspect" and also there was a hearing concerning DNA etc. A judge didn't show to the hearing and I have found nothing about the suspect, DNA or hearing since. The suspect even had a lawyer. This leads me to believe that one of two things (or both) is happening. They know who did it and are working toward enough of a case to go to trial ( my problem with this is that the egos of some of these prosecutors get in the way and they won't go to trial unless the case is a slam dunk for fear of blemishing their record). Or, the potential suspect is someone with enough political connections that Judges are no showing hearings and investigations are being influenced. JMO. I Googled Sharon Ransavage, the lawyer for this "potential suspect". I wonder if anyone has asked her about the case or the suspects name in recent times? It is odd that in all these years a name hasn't surfaced.

 

[dotr]

2020