New Jersey State Police and Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Link Suspected Serial Killer to 50-year-old Murder of Young Woman
The following is provided by NJSP: Our detectives never quit. Sometimes they have to put a cold case down to investigate another, but they always pick them back up. A cooperative effort between the New Jersey State Police Major Crimes Unit and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office recently breathed new life into a 50-year-old murder investigation. State Police detectives submitted all of the evidence in the cold-case investigation into the murder of 18-year-old Mary Agnes Klinsky in 1965 to the New Jersey State Police Office of Forensic Science.
The analysis revealed new evidence linking suspected serial killer, Robert Zarinsky, to her murder. If Robert Zarinsky was alive today, he would be prosecuted for the murder of Mary Agnes Klinsky.
On September 16, 1965, the naked body of the Raritan High School senior was discovered by a Garden State Parkway road crew in an area now known as Exit 116. An autopsy revealed that Klinsky died as a result of multiple skull fractures from significant blunt force trauma to her head. The post-mortem examination also found evidence of her being sexually assaulted prior to her death. Items of evidence were secured from the crime scene and during the autopsy, but the scientific technology at the time did not detect a DNA profile of the suspect.
Over the years since Klinsky’s death, numerous potential suspects and witnesses were questioned and cleared. The recent analysis of biological evidence by the NJSP Office of Forensic Sciences determined the DNA recovered from evidence belonged to Robert Zarinsky. He was convicted in 1975 for the 1969 murder of 17-year-old Rosemary Calandriello, of Atlantic Highlands. While serving a life sentence for Calandriello’s murder, he was indicted for the 1968 murder of 13-year-old Jane Durrua, of Keansburg.
While awaiting trial for the Durrua murder, Zarinsky died in 2008 at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.
In light of the new evidence, additional corroborative evidence was established to support motive and Zarinky’s whereabouts at the time of the murder.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Klinsky family, and it is our hope that this brings them much needed closure.
