NJ NJ - Joan Freeman, 22, Clifton, 31 August 1968

[OkieGranny]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/from_the_archives_in_hunt_for_killer_police_will_r.html

Freeman, a West Paterson resident who graduated from Passaic Valley High School, had worked at Hoffmann-La Roche for about three years, Snack said. On a Saturday afternoon — Aug. 31, 1968 — she was working overtime in a second-floor office in Building 34, recording employees' hours from time cards.

Her killer came at her from behind, striking her in the back of the head with a wooden mallet. Time cards flew out of Freeman's hand like confetti, scattering across the floor. Her attacker struck her repeatedly in the face, then cut her throat. A guard making a routine sweep of the building found her body several hours later.

Snack said Freeman had been "triply killed," meaning any of her wounds would have been fatal. "It was just a brutal murder," Snack said. "She didn't deserve to die that way."

There isn't much info out there about this very old cold case, but I did find a couple of interesting tidbits. Buried deep on this page (use Control+F to find Joan's name), there's a post by someone claiming to be a relative, giving a little info about the Freeman family in the aftermath of Joan's murder and a short list of possible suspects:

http://www.oldnutley.org/fromnutleyNine.html

Also, Joan is allegedly a ghost, haunting the place where she died:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/west-paterson-nj/TJTTRQKABE7AF9NCP

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Joan...

Even though it's been over 52 years, she is not forgotten.

Cases New Jersey Girl Murders 1960-1980

 

[doublestop]

That level of overkill, in a fenced and guarded area...sounds like a rejected suitor from work?

 

[Labocca123]

From the archives: In hunt for killer, police will revisit a 1968 mystery (2005)



There isn't much info out there about this very old cold case, but I did find a couple of interesting tidbits. Buried deep on this page (use Control+F to find Joan's name), there's a post by someone claiming to be a relative, giving a little info about the Freeman family in the aftermath of Joan's murder and a short list of possible suspects:

http://www.oldnutley.org/fromnutleyNine.html

Also, Joan is allegedly a ghost, haunting the place where she died:

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Has anyone looked into this in the past 10 years

 

[Labocca123]

Is anyone interested in helping me look into this case. Seems like it been totally forgotten about.

 

[mlw987m]

I would - however, there is not much out there in terms of news. Poor thing seems forgotten about. I knew a cousin of hers, they had suspicions but never got any information.

 

[Chris M]

Her death is weird in that it was a Saturday on Labor Day Weekend and there wasn't that many people working. Her death happened real late in the day like at 5:30 pm too. I do wonder why she was working real late in the day doing employee time cards. Maybe she arrived at work like lunchtime at around 11am-1pm rather than 9-10am. I have heard via the internet somewhere that Joan normally worked in a different building than the one where she was working(Building 34) where she was killed. That thread said that the A/C in the building where she normally did work didn't work or something to that effect it wasn't working properly. I'm not sure if that's true or not.

 

[Chris M]

That level of overkill, in a fenced and guarded area...sounds like a rejected suitor from work?

Yeah I know the overkill was unbelievable.

 

[Chris M]

Also, Joan is allegedly a ghost, haunting the place where she died:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/west-paterson-nj/TJTTRQKABE7AF9NCP

Yeah usually people who die like Joan did aren't happy to die like they did so they become ghosts.

I do wonder if her killer worked in Building 34 or some other building that day or regularly? Was it common for employees to work in different buildings in that complex from time to time? Also, Joan was working in the library reportedly. Did anybody take something anything out of the library and had to sign for what they took out the day of August 31st, 1968? Finally, was their any guys that she was seen interacting with on a common basis on the job? Could the killer have been a woman that was jealous of her maybe though?

I looked on a weather site and the weather in Clifton, NJ that day had a "mean temperature" of 70 degrees on August 31st, 1968 so it wasn't really that hot on average. The maximum temperature was 79 degrees though that day. Where I am getting at is I am referring to my first post on this thread that the A/C may not have been working or working properly in the Building that Joan usually worked in.

 

[Chris M]

I wonder if her killer is maybe somebody she went to High School with and coincidentally they worked at the same place. Joan went to High School at Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls, NJ which served High School students that lived in Little Falls, Totowa, and West Paterson(now called Woodland Park.) Maybe he was just a regular guy or a little nerdy and had a crush on her. Joan lived in West Paterson at that time and her job was on the Clifton/Nutley border which wasn't that far really from where she lived and grew up.

I am curious if her killer planned her murder a few hours earlier prior to the actual murder. A couple of the murder weapons weren't found but the wooden mallet was found. I find that strange. I just find this whole case strange.

 

[ForensicPatterns]

Two interesting things:

Her killer came at her from behind, striking her in the back of the head with a wooden mallet. Time cards flew out of Freeman's hand like confetti, scattering across the floor. Her attacker struck her repeatedly in the face, then cut her throat. A guard making a routine sweep of the building found her body several hours later.

And this...

I am curious if her killer planned her murder a few hours earlier prior to the actual murder. A couple of the murder weapons weren't found but the wooden mallet was found. I find that strange. I just find this whole case strange.

I do think it was planned but not planned. Planned as in fantasy then leaping towards enacting. It's a very disorganized method of killing to leave the body and not clean up. Organized killers always take away all the evidence they can, including the body.

Doesn't feel like the first time they did this to someone. But does feel like an escalation because of how intense and violent the murder was. No one cuts the throat and bludgeons the face like that without hatred towards the individual or women as a whole. Something tells me, the individual has been studying her schedule for weeks or months, as well as security, and then finally went in to do the deed when the least amount of security and staff was around. Some of the hardest cold cases to crack are people who know the schedule of others and can easily slip through the cracks by everyone because they know when to strike.

Now since no SA/rape as it's reported, that means it wasn't sexual homicide. However, if they kept her clothing, they can figure this out now by testing for semen residue to see if sexual homicide either when she was alive or dead (necrophilia) took place. They could also look for if they kept the clothing, any hair from the purp was left on it by accident since humans shed upward of 50-100 strands of hair a day. So maybe there is hope regarding this. So till this is confirmed, if they kept anything from her for her case, we gotta assume at this point it wasn't sexual homicide motivated.

Anyway...

My guess? Either a repairman, janitor or someone newer in town passing through in the county or neighboring states, who was linked to other similar methods of killing. The best bet is to find out if anyone else in the 10yrs before and 10yrs after also was beaten in the face heavily and throat slashed, that had similar builds, age, and hair/eyes to see if anyone else is linked.

Heck, double-check the visitor logs to staff logs for patterns of anyone new who was always on the same shifts as her.

I'd look at reports if any available to the public that the police have released, looking up her home routes from work, where she hung out the most on her days off, and so on.

And I mentioned repairman because...

I looked on a weather site and the weather in Clifton, NJ that day had a "mean temperature" of 70 degrees on August 31st, 1968 so it wasn't really that hot on average. The maximum temperature was 79 degrees though that day. Where I am getting at is I am referring to my first post on this thread that the A/C may not have been working or working properly in the Building that Joan usually worked in.

If in fact the A/C was broken and if that library was warm, all she needed to do was contact a repair person to come to the location and fix it if no one on campus/staff was qualified to repair it.

 

[Chris M]

Two interesting things:

And this...


I do think it was planned but not planned. Planned as in fantasy then leaping towards enacting. It's a very disorganized method of killing to leave the body and not clean up. Organized killers always take away all the evidence they can, including the body.

I think you may have a good point on the planning method of Joans murder. I think the killer may didn't take Joan's body because the killer was in shock of what they had just done or they ran away from the murder scene not wanting to get caught. Another theory is that had the killer took Joan's body is that there may have been a trail of blood in portions of the building. Maybe the killer didn't want to take a chance that a blood trail in portions of the building might somehow lead back to them.

 

[ForensicPatterns]

I think you may have a good point on the planning method of Joans murder. I think the killer may didn't take Joan's body because the killer was in shock of what they had just done or they ran away from the murder scene not wanting to get caught. Another theory is that had the killer took Joan's body is that there may have been a trail of blood in portions of the building. Maybe the killer didn't want to take a chance that a blood trail in portions of the building might somehow lead back to them.

Nah, organize killers clean up the mess. When they take bodies if they aren’t heavy enough for them, will pick them up and go grab trash bags or something similar to put the body in, get tape or rope to tie the body up. Then they clean up the blood and clean up the mess of anything else.

Disorganize, is like Richard Chase or Herbert Mullin.

Here is how it’s described by the FBI:

“Organized killers are usually socially adept, while disorganized killers may be socially incompetent. Organized killers plan their crimes methodically, while disorganized killers do not plan their crimes or choose their victims logically. Organized killers may lure victims with sympathy or target prostitutes who are more likely to go willingly with a stranger. Disorganized killers often use sudden and overwhelming force to assault their victims, who are often badly wounded. The crime scene of a disorganized killer reflects the disorder in their mind, while organized killers often kill their victims in one place and dispose of them in another. Disorganized killers often leave the victim's body where the attack took place, and make no attempt to hide it.“

This feels organized based on who they targeted but heavily disorganized in how it was executed and finished. So the only way to figure out which one they truly are is by if they planned the attack way ahead as premeditated murder vs impulsive choose in the moment. Israel Keyes was like this. He planned years ahead by leaving orange bucket kill kits buried all across America and the day he got into a state he visited he picked a random person or couple & went to lure them for a kill. He was both, which is extremely rare tbh.

So if someone has the police report or can obtain it, it’ll tell everyone far more about if this feels planned or impulsive.

 

[Zach Ford]

I went down a bit of a Newspapers.com rabbit hole...lots of NJ press coverage in 68/69 that adds some details to the summaries I've seen online. There was a very thorough 5 month (!) grand jury investigation in 69 that still only returned a "John Doe" indictment. I'm sure the grand jury records would make fascinating reading!

 

[Chris M]

The murder weapon(the Wooden Mallet) that was left behind couldn't it have come from a maintenance

Two interesting things:



My guess? Either a repairman, janitor or someone newer in town passing through in the county or neighboring states, who was linked to other similar methods of killing. The best bet is to find out if anyone else in the 10yrs before and 10yrs after also was beaten in the face heavily and throat slashed, that had similar builds, age, and hair/eyes to see if anyone else is linked.

Heck, double-check the visitor logs to staff logs for patterns of anyone new who was always on the same shifts as her.

I'd look at reports if any available to the public that the police have released, looking up her home routes from work, where she hung out the most on her days off, and so on.

And I mentioned repairman because...



If in fact the A/C was broken and if that library was warm, all she needed to do was contact a repair person to come to the location and fix it if no one on campus/staff was qualified to repair it.

Yeah the lone murder weapon that was left behind(the wooden mallet) had to come from either a maintenance shop on site or maybe a contractor doing work inside one of the buildings on the Hoffmann-LaRouche property. I'm not saying a contractor or a maintenance man on site necessarily killed Joan though because somebody else on site could have grabbed and used the wooden mallet to kill Joan.

 

[Fede]

Maybe here we can find a little more info:

The Murdered Joan Carole Freeman

The MurderedNJ Cold CaseJoan Carole FreemanPassaic County Joan Freeman was a hard working 22 year old woman working overtime on Saturday, August 31st, 1968 at her secretary job for the internationa…

ashmysteries.com

 

[Chypre]

Maybe here we can find a little more info:

The Murdered Joan Carole Freeman

The MurderedNJ Cold CaseJoan Carole FreemanPassaic County Joan Freeman was a hard working 22 year old woman working overtime on Saturday, August 31st, 1968 at her secretary job for the internationa…

ashmysteries.com

Great article!

"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."

That's interesting about her not supposed to have been in building 34.

It was 1968. Police interviewed everyone on campus.

IMO
I'm thinking about general campus and security routines. Are all the same steps completed every single day of the week? Are phone operators on duty on Saturdays? In 1968 NJ an operator would have to link calls between extensions.

With or without communication by phone, maybe a written note to change buildings?

 

[ForensicPatterns]

Great article!

"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."

That's interesting about her not supposed to have been in building 34.

It was 1968. Police interviewed everyone on campus.

IMO
I'm thinking about general campus and security routines. Are all the same steps completed every single day of the week? Are phone operators on duty on Saturdays? In 1968 NJ an operator would have to link calls between extensions.

With or without communication by phone, maybe a written note to change buildings?

What gets me in the link that caught my attention because this is a big give away about what happened:

“Strangely, according to Clifton Police Chief Joseph Nee, Miss Freeman did not work in building 34 where the body was found.”

Which is a major clue when you realize if this is true, that means someone manipulated her to an isolated location or someone knocked her out, moved her body to building 34 to finish the job they started.

 

[Zach Ford]

It's well worth it to read through the contemporary newspaper accounts, as they clarify some things, like the relationship between Building 34, where she was found, and Building 1, where she worked. I would have assumed by their numbering that they weren't close together, but look at the photo below. The fact that the two buildings were only 100 feet apart makes the situation slightly less puzzling than if they were widely separated, (i.e. maybe she simply saw someone next door and went in, someone waved for her to come in, etc.), but I haven't read through enough of the articles to see if the police ever had a solid theory as to why she went next door. Before seeing the picture I also didn't have a good mental image of what the campus looked like. With so many large buildings, it is again slightly (but only slightly!) less puzzling to me how a killer could have slipped around campus without being seen.

 

[ForensicPatterns]

It's well worth it to read through the contemporary newspaper accounts, as they clarify some things, like the relationship between Building 34, where she was found, and Building 1, where she worked. I would have assumed by their numbering that they weren't close together, but look at the photo below. The fact that the two buildings were only 100 feet apart makes the situation slightly less puzzling than if they were widely separated, (i.e. maybe she simply saw someone next door and went in, someone waved for her to come in, etc.), but I haven't read through enough of the articles to see if the police ever had a solid theory as to why she went next door. Before seeing the picture I also didn't have a good mental image of what the campus looked like. With so many large buildings, it is again slightly (but only slightly!) less puzzling to me how a killer could have slipped around campus without being seen.View attachment 536807

Not surprised at how the campus is designed because I’ve been to this part of NJ many times in my life. They built things compact back then because of the limited space in block radius.

Anyway, 34 is a taller building which means whomever is responsible for the murder, clearly knew the building to some degree and had the advantage to keep tabs so they could watch from a higher floor, but not too high to be out of eye sight, but not too low to be caught. They clearly picked a window that could catch Joan everytime.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a voyeurism kink that escalated from fantasy to reality on the day of her murder.