Mike Deak | Courier News and Home News Tribune

Nick Muscavage, @nmuscavage

ELIZABETH - An Union County judge has rejected a request to perform DNA tests on the clothes of Jeanette DePalma, a teenager from Springfield whose murder 47 years ago has never been solved.

Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy on Friday dismissed the lawsuit filed by retired private investigator Ed Salzano to compel the Union County Prosecutor's Office to test the clothes of the teenager whose decomposed body was found in September 1972 in the Houdaille Quarry near the Watchung Reservation.

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

~Courier News file

The judge also ruled that the lawsuit has no legal basis to compel the prosecutor's office to take action because, under state law, the office has broad discretion on how to investigate crimes.

In his legal papers asking the prosecutor's office to test her clothes, Salzano said "Jeanette has no voice, now no one to stick up for her."

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Salzano also said that he is "begging" the prosecutor's office to reopen the case so that the public may come forward with information.

"From the people I have interviewed and met in town," Salzano wrote, "there are those who seem to know what happened but are still too afraid to come forward."

The prosecutor's office earlier confirmed hat the Homicide Task Force’s investigation into DePalma's death remains open and has never been closed. Anyone with information is urged to contact Lt. Jose Vendas at 908-358-3048.

"My only interest is in the truth," Salzano wrote.

No arrest has ever been made in the case.

With a lack of any concrete answers, theories have abounded for decades, ranging from a satanic ritual sacrifice to a coven of witches practicing black magic.

DePalma was found in the Houdaille Quarry near Shunpike Road "lying face down with a rock formation surrounding the body," according to the Union County Medical Examiner's report completed by Dr. Bernard Ehrenberg on the day she was found 47 years ago.

DePalma was identified through dental records as her body was too badly decomposed, according to the medical examiner's report. 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.

The cause of death has never been determined. Samples of Jeannette's clothing were packed up and sent to the federal government for further analysis.

According to the FBI crime lab report on Jan. 3, 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, however, stains found in her underwear, bra, blouse and slacks that "were too decomposed for conclusive blood and semen examinations," according to the crime lab report.