By Ryan Hutchins and Steve Strunsky/Star-Ledger Staff

CLARK — Someone slit the throat of an older, well-heeled Clark woman last Friday in what appears to be a targeted attack, authorities said this afternoon.

Vera Pecoraro was found Saturday evening lying on a sofa in her stately suburban home, her throat cut by a serrated knife that was left nearby, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said. One of the woman’s three sons, Anthony Pecoraro, told police he discovered her body in the locked house when he went there for her birthday. She would have turned 74 on Saturday.

Word of the death spread quickly over the weekend around the cul-de-sac known as Rolling Hill Way, where the widow’s house was surrounded by police tape, patrol cars and investigators on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The attack, in a town where any violent crime is considered mere aberration, had sent fear through the community. Investigators believe, however, there is no indication her death was random.

“We do believe she was targeted. This was not a random attack,” Romankow said in a news conference at his office in Elizabeth. “We don’t believe the residents of Clark are in danger of some lunatic going around the area.”

At first, detectives thought — as strange as it might sound — that the woman had committed suicide. But on Sunday, a medical examiner ruled the manner of death was homicide, officially opening a file into a strange killing that appears to present more questions than answers.

All the doors were locked and nothing appeared to have been taken from the home, police said. The woman was still wearing her night gown, but may have been up for a little while — perhaps long enough to make a few calls, or let someone into the home, Romankow said. She was not sexually assaulted, and the prosecutor would not say if she had bruises. There was some type of forensic evidence found near her body, but investigators don’t want to say what kind.

It all leaves broad suspicion about who may have killed Vera Pecoraro, who lived on her own and was described by one neighbor as a “wonderful woman.”

Some of her sons, all adults, have not been as helpful as investigators would prefer, Romankow said. Detectives like to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible — in minutes or hours — but they still have unanswered questions days later, he said. Anthony Pecoraro has already talked to investigators, and Michael Pecoraro is scheduled to do so this afternoon. But a third son, Theodore Pecoraro, has not provided any information.

Asked if the sons had been ruled out as suspects in the case, the prosecutor answered bluntly: “I’m not ruling anyone out as suspects at this time. I’m not ruling out anyone as persons of interest. Everyone has to be considered a person of interest.”

For years, the family has owned and operated Traffic Safety Service, a Middlesex County business that supplies equipment to highway construction sites. The late Anthony G. Pecoraro is listed on the company’s website as founder and president in perpetuity. Today, his wife’s name had been added to the site with a wish that she “rest in peace.”

“We are saddened by the loss of our Matriarch, Vera Pecoraro,” the top of the page read.

On Sunday evening, a woman who answered the phone at the Colts Neck home of Michael Pecoraro declined to comment.

Neighbors say she was well known, friendly and active, and would often have friends over or go out with them for lunch. Frank Sortino, who lived a few doors down, said her children would visit occasionally, usually with their own children — her grandchildren.

Typical of the neighborhood, the exterior of Pecoraro’s two-story house of brick and siding was well-maintained, with the front lawn neatly trimmed. One neighbor, Anthony Falzone, and others said Pecoraro often had friends over or went out to lunch, and she liked driving her late model Cadillac.

But there were signs that life had slowed down at the house without Pecoraro’s husband or sons living there. Despite this summer’s heat, a faded green tarp was stretched across the backyard swimming pool, which Sortino said the widow never filled after her husband died. Out front, a basketball hoop stooped slightly, rusted and overgrown by scrub pines that lined the driveway.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Vera Pecoraro's son Anthony as the founder and president of the Traffic Safety Service.

Related coverage:

• Union County prosecutor says Clark woman's death was homicide

• Investigation in Clark continues, as neighbors ponder widow's unexplained death