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

[Chris M]

I had posted pictures of the Oldsmobile Starfire and the Forinza version of the Starfire. The 1979 -1980 Oldsmobile Starfire looks a little different than the 1975-1978 version:

Rear End of 1979-1980 Oldsmobile Starfire Fiirenza:

Front End of 1979-1980 Oldsmobile Starfire Firenza:

 

[guardian1234]

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.

I must agree , why has another hearing not been set up as of yet,, this judge must be holding out , This is a small town these two guys are known many people I am sure know who did this deed They should come forward instead of letting these crap of human pieces get away with her murder DNA is certainly on the 4x4 family needs to press that DA a lot . There is many people getting away with bad deeds due to our criminal system stand up to our DA’s n Judge’s n Police as all is NOT what it should be . Her rights are not being protected . The rights of her killers are at this point

 

[guardian1234]

Yeah I have been thinking about that but maybe in some sort of other way I do wonder if the killer or killer(s) slipped up one day and told somebody about the murder.

I think people know who killed her

 

[guardian1234]

I keep going back to post #1. What happened to the request for DNA from the individual in question? Was there another trial? It just seems weird that the police wanted to hold the suspect in investigative custody and go to court to get a DNA sample ( why not do it the clandestine way off a coffee cup etc.?). One would think that, whomever this suspect is, the police thought they were on the right trail. I guess one could surmise that they eventually did a DNA test and it came back as not a match, but why no follow up to the original article ( is it possible the results etc. could have been suppressed by the judge at the suspects request once the DNA was found to not be a match?).

 

[guardian1234]

Really why no hearing yet.? It seems that this DA has dropped the ball . The judge has forgot about his duties

 

[Chris M]

I must agree , why has another hearing not been set up as of yet,, this judge must be holding out , This is a small town these two guys are known many people I am sure know who did this deed They should come forward instead of letting these crap of human pieces get away with her murder the DNA is certainly on the 4x4 family needs to press that DA a lot . There is many people getting away with bad deeds due to our criminal system stand up to our DA’s n Judge’s n Police as all is NOT what it should be . Her rights are not being protected . The rights of her killers are at this point

The thing is even if the suspects DNA law enforcement has to match the DNA to somebody in CODIS. A person has to be in CODIS if they have committed a crime before. If a person never committed a crime they probably won't be in CODIS. In this particular case the guy who killed Sharon maybe never committed a crime again therefore he is not in CODIS. This case won't be solved unless the suspect who killed Sharon is in CODIS currently. The only other way to solve it is to get somebody who knows who did the crime. Do I think there is a person out there who knows who killed Sharon? In my opinion the answer is yes.

Its hard to watch as Sharon's case goes unsolved day by day because I don't live that far from where Sharon was killed. Somebody in Somerset County or Middlesex County, NJ has to know who killed Sharon.

 

[Chris M]

I want to say somebody had to see the car at some point the car that Sharon got into 55 minutes-1 hour before she died. I mean every car is parked in a driveway or on a street by a house at some point or an apartment parking lot maybe so it was parked in some neighborhood every day back in 1982 and maybe a few years after that.

I did hear on a random podcast that Sharon went to private school for awhile. I don't know if thats true or not but I would like to find out. Maybe the driver of the car went to private school with her at some point before she went to public school.

 

[dotr]

'Streamed live on Jul 20, 2023'

2023

New Activity In Investigation Of 1982 Murder – The Franklin Reporter & Advocate

Franklin Reporter & Advocate, your source for online hometown Franklin Township news.

franklinreporter.com

''Authorities have hinted at using DNA evidence to solve the case over the years, but nothing has as yet materialized.

''The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the case with the Franklin Township Police Department, was mum on the most recent revelation.

“(T)he investigation remains open as an on-going Homicide Investigation which is being conducted by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and Franklin Township Police Department,” Chief Francisco Roman Jr., the Prosecutor’s Office spokesman, wrote in an email. “With all on-going investigations we cannot comment further to maintain the integrity of the investigation.”

Resta is a local business owner who attended high school with Thor. His interest was piqued when he attended the FTPD’s Community Police Academy, during which the Thor case was discussed.

Resta started a reward fund – separate from the CrimeStoppers of Somerset County’s $5,000 reward established in 2019 – with $500.

A production at Villager’s Theatre of a play written by a friend of Thor’s family raised more money for the reward fund and that, combined with additional donations, helped it grow to $4,000.''

 

[Chris M]

I just wanted to note that at least the driver of the car that Sharon was seen getting 1 hour before her death on Tuesday, October 26th, 1982 has to be in his late 50's/early 60's in terms of his age currently if he is still alive.

 

[Chris M]

I wonder if the Franklin Twp PD discovered any shoeprints in the woods by where Sharon's body was found. Shoeprints is where you could find out what kind of shoe or sneaker for that matter that her killer or killer(s) wore. I have seen that on the show "Forensic Files" where the police or detectives take a mold of a shoe or sneaker to find the perp that way. I know it might be a little hard to find shoeprints in the woods.

Also, after Sharon was killed was her body put in the woods with the murder weapons later put by her body? The other option is that Sharon was hanging out with her killer or killer(s) in the woods before she was murdered.

Just some hypotheticals I wanted to put out on this case.

I am a little shocked after I put all those photos of cars on this thread over last summer that there was no hit on the car that Sharon was last seen in the day of her death. I thought somebody locally might see this thread and might remember the car.

 

[mystery4000]

Were all of her family members cleared of suspicion? From all the true crime I've absorbed, most often it seems to be someone who was close to the victim - a part of me wonders if Sharon was an unfortunate casualty in someone falling in with the wrong crowd/crossing the wrong kind of people. I apologize if others know this information - if you do, I'm still a rookie so any leads are helpful. Genuine questions as I am relatively new to following this case.

I also tried to find the name of the potential suspect and it seems like many people have 'theories' on who it might be... I am having a hard time finding any info on that so if anyone can point me in that direction, that would be helpful too.

 

[Chris M]

Were all of her family members cleared of suspicion? From all the true crime I've absorbed, most often it seems to be someone who was close to the victim - a part of me wonders if Sharon was an unfortunate casualty in someone falling in with the wrong crowd/crossing the wrong kind of people. I apologize if others know this information - if you do, I'm still a rookie so any leads are helpful. Genuine questions as I am relatively new to following this case.

I also tried to find the name of the potential suspect and it seems like many people have 'theories' on who it might be... I am having a hard time finding any info on that so if anyone can point me in that direction, that would be helpful too.

Yeah I don't think the family members were ever looked at as prime suspects in her murder.

I tried to google to see if there were cases similar to Sharon's in the area(Somerset/Middlesex County, NJ) and in the same time period. One did happen where the killing was the same(a woman died of a beating) at a pool party but that was years after Sharon's murder. The guy in that case would have been too young to kill Sharon.

On a seperate note I thought of this a few hours ago: Was the DNA off the murder weapons that killed Sharon compared to DNA from other unsolved murders in the area? BTW, There are about 5 pages of unsolved murders out of Middlesex County, NJ on the Middlesex County, NJ Crime Stoppers Website(www.Middlesextips.com)
Maybe there is DNA from other unsolved murders outside(other states) of NJ that the DNA from the murder weapons used in Sharon's murder could be compared with. Then again the FBI which was trying to solve Sharon's murder in the 1990's maybe did all of what all I said in this paragraph with examining the DNA from the murder weapons that were used in Sharon's murder. The closest this case got to be solved was a DNA sample from a potential suspect in 2009 or 2010 but their then lawyer didn't want to release the name of the suspect and just referred to the person as "The Defendant". The hearing for the DNA Sample never happened because a judge that was supposed to be present at the time had a scheduling conflict and never made it to the hearing. I'm not sure if the DNA was obtained anyway and wasn't a match to the DNA found on the murder weapons that were used to kill Sharon were not a match.

Finally, I just wanted to address this thread the reason why I took such an interest in this case to begin with was when I was in pre-school and even elementary school back in the 1980's I used to go to Franklin Twp with my parents alot because of the shops on Easton Ave. I miss "Ponderosa" because they had good beef to eat! It was like home away from home from me just looking back on it now. I worked in Franklin Twp in the late 2000's for a few years too.

I am hoping luck strikes and Sharon's killer is found one of these days.

 

[mystery4000]

Yeah I don't think the family members were ever looked at as prime suspects in her murder.

I tried to google to see if there were cases similar to Sharon's in the area(Somerset/Middlesex County, NJ) and in the same time period. One did happen where the killing was the same(a woman died of a beating) at a pool party but that was years after Sharon's murder. The guy in that case would have been too young to kill Sharon.

On a seperate note I thought of this a few hours ago: Was the DNA off the murder weapons that killed Sharon compared to DNA from other unsolved murders in the area? BTW, There are about 5 pages of unsolved murders out of Middlesex County, NJ on the Middlesex County, NJ Crime Stoppers Website(www.Middlesextips.com)
Maybe there is DNA from other unsolved murders outside(other states) of NJ that the DNA from the murder weapons used in Sharon's murder could be compared with. Then again the FBI which was trying to solve Sharon's murder in the 1990's maybe did all of what all I said in this paragraph with examining the DNA from the murder weapons that were used in Sharon's murder. The closest this case got to be solved was a DNA sample from a potential suspect in 2009 or 2010 but their then lawyer didn't want to release the name of the suspect and just referred to the person as "The Defendant". The hearing for the DNA Sample never happened because a judge that was supposed to be present at the time had a scheduling conflict and never made it to the hearing. I'm not sure if the DNA was obtained anyway and wasn't a match to the DNA found on the murder weapons that were used to kill Sharon were not a match.

Finally, I just wanted to address this thread the reason why I took such an interest in this case to begin with was when I was in pre-school and even elementary school back in the 1980's I used to go to Franklin Twp with my parents alot because of the shops on Easton Ave. I miss "Ponderosa" because they had good beef to eat! It was like home away from home from me just looking back on it now. I worked in Franklin Twp in the late 2000's for a few years too.

I am hoping luck strikes and Sharon's killer is found one of these days.

That is so interesting they weren't looked at... I find that strange. IMO it's where I would start if I were on the case, to see if any of her immediate family members were either involved with any illegal activities/well-contected dangerous people/owed $$ to people. That's personal speculation. As the line was shut off for caller ID, I wonder if that's something members of her house were familiar with how to do and knew to do ahead of time of the call. Do we know if it was ever off at other times?

That is a great question about comparing the DNA, and thank you for the unsolved pages - I will comb through and see what I can find. That feels too coincidental that the judge didn't show for the hearing and that this case has remained unsolved. It makes me wonder/theorize those who were responsible have some extensive contacts which feeds into my speculation about it being related to illicit family activities.

Do we know who the family supposedly confronted after Sharon's death? I have been wondering what made them confront the person, a part from how they supposedly treated other women.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, I agree. One of my theories (like you) is that whoever is responsible has not committed a crime either a. since Sharon or b. since technology has improved, particularly with the prolific use of ring cameras, street cameras, and so on.

 

[Chris M]

That is so interesting they weren't looked at... I find that strange. IMO it's where I would start if I were on the case, to see if any of her immediate family members were either involved with any illegal activities/well-contected dangerous people/owed $$ to people. That's personal speculation. As the line was shut off for caller ID, I wonder if that's something members of her house were familiar with how to do and knew to do ahead of time of the call. Do we know if it was ever off at other times?

That is a great question about comparing the DNA, and thank you for the unsolved pages - I will comb through and see what I can find. That feels too coincidental that the judge didn't show for the hearing and that this case has remained unsolved. It makes me wonder/theorize those who were responsible have some extensive contacts which feeds into my speculation about it being related to illicit family activities.

Do we know who the family supposedly confronted after Sharon's death? I have been wondering what made them confront the person, a part from how they supposedly treated other women.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, I agree. One of my theories (like you) is that whoever is responsible has not committed a crime either a. since Sharon or b. since technology has improved, particularly with the prolific use of ring cameras, street cameras, and so on.

I think its always been suspected that Sharon was murdered because she refused a man's sexual advances. Her pants and shirt were partially off(i.e. attempted sexual assault) at the crime scene. As for the call not being recorded or showing a record of being placed to Sharon's house I always found that part interesting. Did somebody turn the recorder off or was pole work(i.e. telephone pole) being done on surrounding streets in the neighborhood to where the pole workers turned something off to where phone calls could still be placed or received but wouldn't be recorded? Could there have been pole work going on the main road(Easton Ave) at the time that is the main road out of the neighborhood? I'm not sure if the Thor Family had direct caller ID where a phone number pops up on a window of the direct caller Id's device window. My parents house we either never had direct caller id or we got direct caller in the late 1990's right before cell phones started to become mainstream. Direct Caller ID may have been around in the mid 1990's though. Going back to the recorder being turned off that would record what phone numbers were coming in and out of the family home its never been public if somebody turned off the recorder at the Thor family home before the day of Sharon's murder.

Some of Sharon's brothers confronted somebody(a young male I think) because they heard rumors that that they knew who killed Sharon or thought he killed Sharon himself.

 

[mystery4000]

I think its always been suspected that Sharon was murdered because she refused a man's sexual advances. Her pants and shirt were partially off(i.e. attempted sexual assault) at the crime scene. As for the call not being recorded or showing a record of being placed to Sharon's house I always found that part interesting. Did somebody turn the recorder off or was pole work(i.e. telephone pole) being done on surrounding streets in the neighborhood to where the pole workers turned something off to where phone calls could still be placed or received but wouldn't be recorded? Could there have been pole work going on the main road(Easton Ave) at the time that is the main road out of the neighborhood? I'm not sure if the Thor Family had direct caller ID where a phone number pops up on a window of the direct caller Id's device window. My parents house we either never had direct caller id or we got direct caller in the late 1990's right before cell phones started to become mainstream. Direct Caller ID may have been around in the mid 1990's though. Going back to the recorder being turned off that would record what phone numbers were coming in and out of the family home its never been public if somebody turned off the recorder at the Thor family home before the day of Sharon's murder.

Some of Sharon's brothers confronted somebody(a young male I think) because they heard rumors that that they knew who killed Sharon or thought he killed Sharon himself.

See, I guess to me it feels like a red-herring. Do we know if any DNA was pulled from SA? Or is it suspected SA? I ask because if Sharon was murdered for another reason, and as the criminals have yet to be apprehended, I wonder if that was to distract from the nature of why she was murdered. That's pure speculation and I know seems contrary to the evidence presented. I just find it odd that her clothing was only partially off, as if that was not the true intention of the crime. She was wrapped in a blanket or rug of some kind too, right? I think I read that but I might be mixing cases.

Is there a way to find out if utility work was being done in the area at the time? I'll have to look into it - there must be, right? Although that feels too coincidental that there would be utility work at the moment someone who likely was responsible for her death called her. That seems too suspect which is why I speculate someone that knew how to do it from within the home (or even someone familiar with utilities) would have shut off.

I don't have a concept of what caller ID looked like before 1990, so that is helpful to know. Too young lol

Yeah, now I'm curious if it had ever been turned off before, or if it was turned off days earlier, if someone in the home knew how to, etc.

Yes, that is the young man's name I am trying to find out.. I wonder if it's not out because it would be defamation or hearsay. It would be helpful to know who they confronted so then we could see if they were still alive etc.

 

[Chris M]

See, I guess to me it feels like a red-herring. Do we know if any DNA was pulled from SA? Or is it suspected SA? I ask because if Sharon was murdered for another reason, and as the criminals have yet to be apprehended, I wonder if that was to distract from the nature of why she was murdered. That's pure speculation and I know seems contrary to the evidence presented. I just find it odd that her clothing was only partially off, as if that was not the true intention of the crime. She was wrapped in a blanket or rug of some kind too, right? I think I read that but I might be mixing cases.

Is there a way to find out if utility work was being done in the area at the time? I'll have to look into it - there must be, right? Although that feels too coincidental that there would be utility work at the moment someone who likely was responsible for her death called her. That seems too suspect which is why I speculate someone that knew how to do it from within the home (or even someone familiar with utilities) would have shut off.

I don't have a concept of what caller ID looked like before 1990, so that is helpful to know. Too young lol

Yeah, now I'm curious if it had ever been turned off before, or if it was turned off days earlier, if someone in the home knew how to, etc.

Yes, that is the young man's name I am trying to find out.. I wonder if it's not out because it would be defamation or hearsay. It would be helpful to know who they confronted so then we could see if they were still alive etc.

I'm not so sure if any DNA was ever pulled because of the suspected attempted sexual assault. It has been speculated that the guy was making sexual advances towards Sharon thus her shirt and pants were partially off at the crime scene. Thus Sharon might have fought back at the guy because of his sexual advances and the guy didn't like that so he beat her to death with the 2x4 piece of wood and the cinder block.

As for finding out if there was pole work being done in the area where Sharon lived maybe you can try to google something or try Google News Archive. You can go to a library in Somerset County, NJ where they have may have old newspaper sourcing's on a film and that you can see on a monitor what is on the film. Finding out about pole work being done could be a difficult thing to find because it was so long ago.

The whole thing with there never being a record of the phone call that Sharon took 1 hour before her death is weird. I never heard of something like that happening.

 

[Chris M]

I wonder if this person who called Sharon the day 1 hour before her death had called the house before on a previous day. I wonder if phone records incoming calls at "The Thor Home" were looked at from 1-3 months prior to Sharon's death and not just the phone call that Sharon had taken 1 hour before her death. Was there anybody on the list of phone numbers from over the summer of 1982 that had called that didn't regularly call and that was a little lengthy call maybe say from a 2 to a 10 minute call?

 

[Richard]

I wonder if this person who called Sharon the day 1 hour before her death had called the house before on a previous day. I wonder if phone records incoming calls at "The Thor Home" were looked at from 1-3 months prior to Sharon's death and not just the phone call that Sharon had taken 1 hour before her death. Was there anybody on the list of phone numbers from over the summer of 1982 that had called that didn't regularly call and that was a little lengthy call maybe say from a 2 to a 10 minute call?

Back in 1982, phone records and operation was quite different from how things are today. For a given land line phone, the only record of calls were for long distance calls made FROM the phone or incoming long distance calls for which the phone owner accepted reversed charges.

No records were kept for local calls in or out.

 

[Chris M]

Back in 1982, phone records and operation was quite different from how things are today. For a given land line phone, the only record of calls were for long distance calls made FROM the phone or incoming long distance calls for which the phone owner accepted reversed charges.

No records were kept for local calls in or out.

Oh ok thanks. I didn't know how records of phone calls were being kept tracked of back then. For example, a call from New Jersey to North Carolina back then would be recorded as a phone call to both incoming and outgoing parties. I also assume both people on either side of the phone line would be charged for a call from New Jersey to North Carolina.

 

[Chris M]

I wonder how long in terms of minutes that Sharon was waiting outside for the car that picked her up not long before her death. The witness who was a young kid) at the time said that he saw her got into the car but was she waiting for a couple minutes for the car? I did do a google map search for the strip mall that's near Sharon's former place of living and its a 3-4 minute ride from the strip mall(on the corner of Cedar Grove Lane and Easton Ave) from her former house I think. The strip mall may have had a pay phone back then. Car Phones were very new at the time. There were no cell phones of course back then. If the car was right outside waiting for Sharon thats awful fast for somebody to hang up on a phone call and the car was right there ready to pick Sharon up.

Odd Behavior-The killer had to be acting odd in my opinion the next 2-3 days wether at school or at work in my opinion after Sharons death because it was a rage killing in my opinion.