The Life And The Mysterious Murder Of The Girl On The Mountain, Jeannette Christine DePalma.

Jeannette Christine DePalma

She was sweet, honest and funny, but didn't take anyone's crap. She wouldn't start trouble, but she wouldn't back down either. She was also tough, religious, and a little bit of a wild girl. Jeannette was a good person and friend. She was kind and known to look out for people and help them if she could.

Jeannette was born on August 3rd, 1956 in New Jersey City to Florence and  Salvatore DePalma. Florence was a homemaker and Salvatore and operator of D&D Auto Salvage in Newark. 

Jeannette was the sixth child out of seven. Her family was Italian Catholic and resided in Roselle, before moving into a larger home in the township of Springfield in the mid 1960's. 

During this time, farmers had began selling their land. Springfield, which once was a close knit community of farmers, had begun to fill up with families from Long Island and Manhattan. Most of those families were either Italian or Jewish. There was no animosity against any ethnic members of the community, but there was a slight edge between the "City Slickers" and the farming families. The kids got along with each other pretty well, the older people not as much. There were bickering and lawsuits that seemed to never end.

In Springfield, Church-going citizens made sure that there were no "negative" establishments such as adult book stores, tattoo parlors and biker bars were allowed in town. Car washes and pinball machines weren't even allowed. No vehicles, especially recreational ones, were allowed parked in front of houses.

There were no known gangs in Springfield either, only a few well known characters. There was the lady who swept moonbeams off her driveway, the homeless mailman, a one eyed woman named Tilly, the man who thought he was an FBI agent as well as an alien, the man that walked like a robot and Tony Tony. He liked to stand by the road with a clipboard and count every car that passed by. There was also a man that was called "Faaah." He was called that because he'd run around at night slapping street signs and yelling "Faaah."

When the family moved into their new home at 4 Clearview Drive, there was a little resentment towards them. Their house was in a series of large houses that were built on the mountaintop of Springfield's west side. A new street called "Mountview Road" was cut across the mountain with the sole purpose of servicing the new homes. This meant that there was a need for better fire trucks and more police cars. The people that did not live in this new neighborhood felt like they had to pay for services they weren't using.

Many of the residents also thought that the DePalma family was strange. It was said that they seldom left their home, didn't talk much to their neighbors and kept to themselves. 

In the early 1970's, Sal would allegedly be awful to Florence. Someone would call the police. By the time the authorities got there, they'd be sent away by Florence saying that everything was fine.

Allegedly, in addition to Sal being mean to his wife, he was a mafia boss in the "Cosa Nostra." Supposedly, the DePalma family were not the only ones who lived in town that were involved in the Mafia.

Jeannette and her family were members of a born again Christian church called the Assembles God Evangel Church, where she did Christian outreach work. Many of the DePalma's neighbors saw them as "Jesus Freaks."

John Dayton Regional

Jeannette also attended Union Catholic Regional High School and then transferred to John Dayton Regional High school. There were rumors going around that she was promiscuous, but her friends and family dispel the rumors. 

Jeannette was dating a guy though. She would go with her sister Cindy and her friend Lisa and hitch rides to see him and his two friends. Jeannette was going out with John, Lisa was seeing Joe and Cindy was seeing Wayne, also known as "Nubs" because he was missing his thumbs.

Because of the preconceived notions about Jeannette, some of the girls in her grade weren't that friendly with her. And if Jeannette tried to be friendly with them they would ignore her.

Jeannette's friends and family remember her constantly trying to straighten her curly hair as the style at the time. She was constantly brushing her hair and she would also try smoothing it out with her hands. 

Jeannette loved music and would talk about it with her friends. 

She loved Janis Joplin.

She also loved Pete Duel and was upset when she found out that her was her favorite actor killed himself. He was best known for his starring role as outlaw Hannibal Heyes in the television series Alias Smith and Jones. Duel committed suicide on New Years Eve in 1971. He was an alcoholic and had been depressed since the previous year when he was driving drunk and killed two people in a car crash.

On Monday, August 7th, 1972, 16-year-old Jeannette left her house at 1:20 p.m. after telling her mother she was going to hitchhike and take the train to a friend’s house in Berkly Heights before her afternoon shift at a clothing store name Sealfrons in Summit, New Jersey. Jeannette never arrived at the friend's house and she never returned home. Her parents filed a police report that night.

It was hoped by some that Jeannette was a runaway, but six weeks after her disappearance, those hopes were shattered. A resident at Wilson Drive apartments reported that the family dog brought back a decomposing right forearm and hand. 

At 11:40 a.m., Springfield police formed a search party led by bloodhounds, which led to the discovery of the rest of her body, which was found at the top of a cliff inside Springfield’s Houdaille Quarry known to the locals as The Devil’s Teeth.

The exact spot were the body was found is called the Watchung Reservation, acres of unguarded land full of trees and wildlife.

According to medical records, the body was "lying face down with a rock formation surrounding the body." 

Other descriptions of the crime scene vary, but most stories agree that the body was surrounded by logs and makeshift wooden crosses.

The body was too badly decomposed, according to the medical examiner's report. The identity of the body had to be made through dental records. It turned out that the body was Jeannette's. Her body was so decomposed that an autopsy could not be performed. X-rays of her skull were taken, though, and there was no evidence of fractures, bullet holes or traumatic injuries. Eventually the coroner did determine Jeannette’s cause of death to be strangulation, but as far as i can find, her death was ruled as "Suspicious" not a homicide. There was also an unusually high amount of lead in Jeannette’s body, but the police had no explanation for this.

Jeannette's clothing had stains. They were packed up and sent to the federal government for further analysis. 

According to the FBI crime lab report on January 3rd, 1973, officials tested Jeannette's clothing, including her blouse, slacks and underwear, as well as the soil from the scene, and compared them with hairs collected from her dresser drawer and on her body.

The FBI's microscopic and chemical analysis found that were no "apparent foreign hairs" found among Jeannette's clothing.

The lab workers didn't find drugs or poison in any of the samples.

There were stains found in her underwear, bra, blouse and slacks that "were too decomposed for conclusive blood and semen examinations." 

Jeanette's body was difficult to get down and a fire truck had to be brought in so it's ladder could be used. This made Jeanette's family and friends wonder. Jeanette not an outdoorsy girl. She liked to get her nails done at the mall. When her body was found, she was wearing flip flops. Her friends think that it was too difficult for her to have climbed up there in flip flops and that someone who have had to carry her. However, people say that it probably would be too steep to carry an unconscious body up there.

After the way her body was found, there was speculation and still is to this day, that Jeannette's death was a ritualistic sacrifice performed by witches.

Early in the investigation, the Springfield Police Department received a tip regarding a homeless man the locals called "Red."  He lived in the woods near where Jeannette's body was found. Red  fled after Jeannette went missing. While this seemed to be a promising lead, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office eventually decided Red had nothing to do with Jeannette’s murder, and no arrests were ever made.

Over the years there has been claims that Jeannette's file went missing. The Springfield Police Department maintains that the file was lost due to flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Others allege that a copy of it is still on file. Some people say claim that there is something fishy going on and a cover-up is a foot along with connections to other unsolved murders, and previously unknown suspects.

Some say that the police chief's son was the perpetrator in Jeannette's death. That she had spurned his advances and he killed her and then committed suicide.

In 1974, 17 year old Mary Ann Pryor and her friend, 16 year old Lorraine Kelly sexually assaulted and strangled. They both were found in a heavily wooded area like Jeannette. Some people out there think that the same individual might be the perpetrator for all three murders.

In September of 2019, Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy dismissed the lawsuit filed by retired private investigator Ed Salzano to compel the Union County Prosecutor's Office to test Jeanette's clothes.

Cassidy ruled that Salzano has no legal relationship to DePalma, her estate or anyone else who may have a stake in the outcome of the case. 

Salzano said "Jeanette has no voice, now no one to stick up for her."

He also said that after interviewing people in town, that he was sure that there were people that knew something, but seemed to afraid to come forward. Salzano claimed that is why he kept begging the prosecutor to reopen Jeannette's case. However, Jeanette's case is allegedly still open. And that anyone can call Lt. Jose Vendas at 908-358-3048 with any information that they have.

https://www.justiceforjeannette.com/