NJ NJ - Jean Wilson Day, Piscataway, Murdered March 1971

[Chris M]

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/09/archives/woman-professor-at-rutgers-bludgeoned-to-death-in-home.html?smid=url-share

Ellen Wilson Day, the daughter would be 65 years old now since she was 10 years old when her mother was murdered. Maybe this thread can lead get some justice for Ellen.

 

[cenazoic]

In 2011, members of the class of ‘71 established a scholarship in her name. Discussed the murder, but this is basically how Jean affected her students (Rutgers was all-male at the time). Nice story.

Rutgers Class of 1971 Establishes Scholarship for Beloved Professor Murdered at the Height of her Career

www.rutgers.edu

 

[cenazoic]

From:

Jean Wilson Day Undergraduate Research Symposium

Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, The School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

www.chem.rutgers.edu

 

[Money-Theme]

Alright, sorry if I'm about to come across as a tin foil hat conspiracy person here, but as a lifelong resident of Middlesex County, this case has boggled my mind for years. Not just for the absolute tragedy of it, but because 6 months prior to this, another unsolved murder happened in a similar manner one town over in East Brunswick.

UNSOLVED HOMICIDE IN EAST BRUNSWICK ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1970
June 22, 2016​

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On September 2, 1970 Cathleen Carroll was found dead in her home at 62 Independence Drive, East Brunswick NJ by her husband at approximately 4:05 PM. She was last seen alive by her husband and children around 10:30 AM that same day.
Cathleen died of injuries sustained during an attack by an unknown assailant. The attacker is believed to have entered the home between the hours of 11 and 12 AM.
If you have any information in regards to this homicide please contact the Middlesex County Crime Stoppers.

It's important to note that Ms. Carroll's husband was a Rutger's University professor, William Carroll, an early computer engineer.

The similarities in this case are that the assailant of both Day and Carroll waited until night to enter and slay them. Also, what to me sticks out as opposed to the active serial killers in the NJ area of this time (Richard Cottingham and Robert Zarensky) is that no sexual assault was found to have occurred on Day or Carroll, and both victims were stabbed so many times in the chest that the assailant kept stabbing them post-mortem. What's also striking is that Day's murder happened while Day's daughter was home asleep, meaning the killer was quick enough to not make any noise breaking in, killing his victim, and leaving unnoticed. I truly believe that this may have been the same killer for both women.

Thankfully, there is a sketch of at least Carroll's killer, which shows a man in his early 20s. This leads me to believe, that a student of Rutgers is our culprit. I think we should look into if between the fall of 1970 and spring of 1971 a male student had taken courses under Jean Wilson Day and William Caroll (Cathleen's husband).

Also, note that sometimes reporters wrote Cathleen's name as Kathleen in some reports.

 

[Chris M]

Alright, sorry if I'm about to come across as a tin foil hat conspiracy person here, but as a lifelong resident of Middlesex County, this case has boggled my mind for years. Not just for the absolute tragedy of it, but because 6 months prior to this, another unsolved murder happened in a similar manner one town over in East Brunswick.

UNSOLVED HOMICIDE IN EAST BRUNSWICK ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1970​

June 22, 2016​

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[/td]​

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On September 2, 1970 Cathleen Carroll was found dead in her home at 62 Independence Drive, East Brunswick NJ by her husband at approximately 4:05 PM. She was last seen alive by her husband and children around 10:30 AM that same day.
Cathleen died of injuries sustained during an attack by an unknown assailant. The attacker is believed to have entered the home between the hours of 11 and 12 AM.
If you have any information in regards to this homicide please contact the Middlesex County Crime Stoppers.

It's important to note that Ms. Carroll's husband was a Rutger's University professor, William Carroll, an early computer engineer.

The similarities in this case are that the assailant of both Day and Carroll waited until night to enter and slay them. Also, what to me sticks out as opposed to the active serial killers in the NJ area of this time (Richard Cottingham and Robert Zarensky) is that no sexual assault was found to have occurred on Day or Carroll, and both victims were stabbed so many times in the chest that the assailant kept stabbing them post-mortem. What's also striking is that Day's murder happened while Day's daughter was home asleep, meaning the killer was quick enough to not make any noise breaking in, killing his victim, and leaving unnoticed. I truly believe that this may have been the same killer for both women.

Thankfully, there is a sketch of at least Carroll's killer, which shows a man in his early 20s. This leads me to believe, that a student of Rutgers is our culprit. I think we should look into if between the fall of 1970 and spring of 1971 a male student had taken courses under Jean Wilson Day and William Caroll (Cathleen's husband).

Also, note that sometimes reporters wrote Cathleen's name as Kathleen in some reports.

View attachment 609123View attachment 609124View attachment 609125

An age progressed photo would be proper of the sketch above to see what the suspect might look like today. He would be in his mid 70's age wise today.

Anyway, I don't know if this is makes a difference in this case but the road set-up was very different by Jean Wilson Day's former home than it is today. Metlars Ln didn't have a connection to Hoes Ln till 1995. You used to had to use Davidson Rd pre-1995 to get to Hoes Ln which was a paper-clip intersection from Metlars Ln. Once the intersection of Hoes Ln and Metlars Ln was established the paper clip intersection of Davidson Rd and Hoes Ln was totally eliminated in 1995. In 2004 or 2005 Route 18 replaced some of Metlars Ln up to Hoes Ln. In 2012 Rt 18 was constructed through Piscataway using the existing road of Hoes Ln. As a result the connection to Gates Ave where Jean Wilson Day lived access from Rt 18 to Gates Ave was cut off from the Hoes Ln section of Rt 18.