FREEHOLD – New DNA evidence testing helped close a cold case murder from 1991 in Asbury Park.
The DNA testing crucial information that revealed the killer according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Asbury Park Police contacted the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office in the morning of March 27, 1991 following the discovery of a deceased white female under a ramp of a building near the Fourth Avenue Asbury Park Boardwalk.
Police were notified of the body’s location at 7:37 a.m. and officers responded to secure the scene. The victim was believed to have been Christa Engel, though at that time there were no next of kin located to confirm her identity.
The medical examiner later concluded Engel had been severely beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled.
Detectives obtained items of evidence during the early stages of the case that were relevant to the murder investigation.
Those items included DNA profiles from the victim’s body, stockings, slip and dress, were retained and tested.
While a suspect was initially developed and charged, he was later cleared when it was determined his DNA did not match the original subject’s DNA profile.
The case was reopened in 2001 after it was learned that DNA samples from the victim’s body and clothing could possibly be resubmitted and tested.
Based on this discovery, certain evidence from the victim was submitted to the New Jersey State Police lab for analysis and the Prosecutor’s Office was later notified that a potential match was obtained from the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) submittal.
CODIS is a national DNA database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) first established in the early 1990s, and utilized to identify possible suspects of a crime. CODIS identified the DNA contributor as Clarence W. Turnage of Asbury Park who had died in 2014.
The Prosecutor’s Office formed a dedicated Cold Case Unit in January 2018 that would focus exclusively on older, unsolved homicide cases.
The unit is staffed by an experienced assistant prosecutor and two detectives, and the Engel homicide was one of several cases selected for immediate review.
Investigators spent months reviewing case files, various public records, and DNA analysis of the victim, ultimately confirming that Engel was born in West Germany with a given name of Christa Dierolf. It was determined that she changed her name to Christa Engel after marrying Seymour Engel in 1961. The couple married in Passaic, New Jersey and later moved to Asbury Park.
In 2018, in light of the more recent advances and innovations in DNA testing technology, the Prosecutor’s Office resubmitted DNA evidence from the 1991 Engel homicide to Bode Technology, a private forensic laboratory. To confirm the earlier CODIS hit, the Prosecutor’s Office was permitted to exhume Turnage’s corpse to obtain a DNA sample so Bode could perform a direct comparison.
In February 2019, Bode’s forensic testing confirmed that Clarence W. Turnage was in fact the contributor of DNA profiles obtained from the victim’s dress, stockings and body.
These three profiles were not tested in 1991 when the case was originally under investigation.
Turnage lived about 300 yeards from where Engel’s body was found at the time of the homicide. He lived one block from the Carlton Hotel where Engel was living at the time.
In August 2019, it was requested that the original suspect’s DNA be compared to DNA from the victim’s slip and the dress.
Requests were not made for the stocking or swabs to be tested since the FBI had excluded the original suspect as a contributor from these items in 1991.
Subsequent lab testing by Bode confirmed the exclusion of the original suspect as the major contributor on the dress and slip.
This month the Prosecutor’s Office unsuccessfully attempted to reaffirm the identity of the victim as Christa Engel since investigators have been unable to identify any next of kin.
It is hoped that with the release of this information and conclusion of this investigation, a family member of Engel may come forward.
Anyone with any information pertaining to this case, can contact Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective John Leibfried at 732-431-7160.
At this time the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is closing the case as solved with no prosecution since the accused is deceased.
The Prosecutor’s Office has made the review and reinvestigation of cold homicide cases a priority. Cold cases that have been solved or charged as a result include the following:
• Mary Agnes Klinsky – 1965 Murder of 18-year old Mary Agnes Klinsky by the notorious serial killer Robert Zarinsky (deceased) in Holmdel – announced February 2016;
• State v. Ebenezer Byrd, Gregory Jean-Baptiste, Jerry Spraulding and James Fair – defendants were charged in 2015 with murder and conspiracy for the grisly 2009 homicide of Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton in Neptune City. All were convicted by jury trial in 2019.
• State v. Kishia Jones – defendant charged in 2018 with the 1992 shooting homicide of 12-year old Quiana Dees in Asbury Park. Case remains pending in juvenile court. Byrd, Jean-Baptiste and Spraulding were later sentenced to life imprisonment; Fair was sentenced to 82 years imprisonment.
• State v. Richard Busby – defendant found guilty by jury of felony murder in 2018 for 2011 home invasion death of Michael Conway in Freehold. Busby was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment in 2019.
• State v. Dominique Moore – defendant pleaded guilty in 2019 to the 2013 shooting death of 23-year-old Daniel Graves in Asbury Park. Moore was later sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
• Delores Connors, Ted Connors, Jose Carrero – defendants were charged for the 1994 murder of Ana Mejia 1995 murder of Nicholas Connors in January 2020.
