Tag: Jonathan Zarate

  • More details in Jennifer Parks’ murder

    Pal’s statement: Zarate brothers plotted to slay Randolph teen:

    More information in the case of Jonathan Zarate and his younger brother who killed and dismembered Jennifer Parks…

    Two brothers plotted to lure teenager Jennifer Parks to their father’s house in Randolph, where they beat, stabbed and shared the grisly task of cutting off her legs, according to a statement given to police by a friend who tried to help the siblings dump the body.

    Recktenwald said that V.B. told her and another detective that the brothers confided on July 31 that Jonathan Zarate was communicating with the 16-year-old girl next door over the Internet and invited her over.

    “They were planning to kill her,” Recktenwald quoted V.B. as saying.

    V.B. said the brothers told him they killed Parks because she had gotten the younger brother in trouble so that he had to pay some fines. Recktenwald said the Clifton teen gave the following account, based on what the brothers told him:

    Jonathan Zarate talked a few minutes with Parks after her arrival at his home around 2 a.m. on July 30. Zarate started choking the girl. His younger brother, who was hiding in a basement closet, jumped out, started punching Parks all over her body, and then grabbed a knife and started stabbing her. The elder Zarate put a bandanna over her face to stifle her screams. Both brothers then shared the job of cutting off Parks’ legs so they could fit her body into a trunk that normally held camping equipment.

    “They cut her legs off and put her in, like, a box,” V.B. related, Recktenwald said.

    Authorities have said the Zarate brothers — who allegedly used to bully Parks over her weight and appearance –recruited the help of the Clifton friend to help them try to toss a trunk containing the girl’s body over a bridge in Rutherford into the Passaic River.

    The trio was caught by passing police officers around 3 a.m. on July 31 before the trunk could be heaved. Jonathan Zarate confessed, saying that he alone invited Parks over to watch television around 2 a.m. on July 30, after which he flew into a rage, beat her with a pole, stuffed a bandanna down her throat, stabbed her and cut off her legs. The younger Zarate –whose full name has not been publicly released because he is a juvenile — told police he learned of the murder after the fact. The Clifton teen originally gave two statements: in one, he denied any knowledge of the killing; in the second, he claimed Jonathan Zarate did the murder. His story changed on Sept. 20.

    Authorities said that the younger Zarate got in trouble several years ago when he damaged Laurie Parks’ car by throwing rocks at it. School officials also rearranged his classes in Randolph so that he and Jennifer Parks did not run into each other. The 15-year-old wound up leaving Randolph a few years ago to live with his biological mother in Garfield but was visiting his father on Old Brookside Road the weekend Parks was slain.

    Jonathan Zarate was transferred last week out of the Morris County jail to a psychiatric facility after two episodes of punching corrections officers and relieving himself multiple times on the floor of his cell. His lawyer said Jonathan Zarate admits the killing and a psychiatric defense is being pursued.

    Try the younger brother as an adult and send them both to the needle.

  • Zarate’s brother charged with murder

    New murder charge in Randolph killing:

    There’s been a major development in the ongoing story of Jonathan Zarate. To sum up 18-year-old Zarate killed 16-year-old Jennifer Parks, dismembered her body, hid her body in a trunk, hid the trunk in his dad’s Jeep for 24 hours, then tried dumping her body in the Passaic River. Now his 15-year-old brother known only as “J.Z.” has now been charged with helping his brothers commit the murder. Originally “J.Z.” was only charged with unlawful disposal of human remains and hindering apprehension…

    This afternoon, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office served him with a complaint that charges him with being a principal or accomplice to the July 30 beating and stabbing death of the 16-year-old Parks girl.

    Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata would not give many specifics on the reasons for the first-degree charge against the juvenile, but acknowledged it is at least in part based on statements provided by a 16-year-old Clifton youth, who helped the teen and 18-year-old Jonathan Zarate try to throw a steamer trunk containing the girl’s corpse over a bridge into the Passaic River. The disposal attempt was thwarted when police passed by.

    At a hearing tomorrow, prosecutors are going to ask the judge to let them try “J.Z.” as an adult.

  • Zarate accomplice pleads guilty

    Teen accomplice pleads guilty in body dump case:

    One of the teen accomplices of Jonathan Zarate pleaded guilty to improperly disposing of human remains and hindering apprehension. This is the 16-year-old accomplice known as “V.B.” the friend of Jonathan Zarate’s brother who is only identified as “J.Z.”. “V.B.” faces up to four years in juvenile detention. “V.B.” and “J.Z.” allegedly tried to help Jonathan Zarate dispose of Jennifer Parks’ body in the Passaic River.

  • Zarate attacks prison guard

    ‘Trunk killer’ teen erupts, blackens jail guard’s eye:

    This is a story that I’ve been following here for a while. Unfortunately, I haven’t reposted any of the previous entries since the Great Site Meltdown of 2005. Let me bring you up to speed. 18-year-old Jonathan Zarate invited his 16-year-old neighbor Jennifer Parks over to watch TV. He killed her by bludgeoning her and repeatedly stabbing her. He then dismembered her body, stuffed her in a trunk, hid the trunk in his parents’ Jeep for 24 hours, then solicited his teenage brother and a friend to help him dump the body into the Passaic River. At the time of the original postings, I got a lot of comments saying that either he couldn’t have possibly killed her or comments that attacked the victim. Well, Zarate’s latest escapade is that he attacked a prison guard unprovoked…

    Jonathan Zarate, 18, of Randolph, allegedly punched a 26-year-old corrections officer three times in the face and head as he was being escorted back to his cell after a shower Thursday at 8:30 a.m., Warden Frank Corrente said.

    “This was unprovoked. He has issues with authority and has been a management issue since his arrival,” Corrente said of Zarate. “He shows violent behavior.”

    Yeah, someone with this kind of rational behavior couldn’t have possibly killed someone. Yeah, right.

  • Jonathan Zarate News

    Slain Randolph girl’s mom pushes for death penalty:

    The mother of Jennifer Parks, Laurie Parks, is calling on prosecutors to push for the death penalty in the murder of her daughter…

    “I feel if you take a life, you give a life,” she said. She said her grief has been overwhelming some days, for herself and Jennifer’s father, David, and that she hopes to start counseling soon. She hasn’t been ready so far for therapy, she said.

    “I’m not doing good right now. It’s very hard,” she said.

    Can you blame her? Considering her daughter was killed and dismembered by Jonathan Zarate.

    Prosecutors have not yet stated whether or not they will pursue the death penalty. While New Jersey does have the death penalty it’s rarely used.

    We also have news out of the Zarate camp…

    Slay case leaves kin wondering:

    The relatives of Jonathan Zarate are saying they knew that he had problems. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to have been sent to his aunt in California who is a psychiatrist. He was supposed to go on August 2nd but he killed Jennifer Parks on July 30th. Still, no motive was given but the article uses this as a turning point in Zarate’s life…

    He changed from a happy youngster to an angry kid during the breakup of his parents, according to his mother, Flora Mari, who spoke through Fusco. The couple split when he was 8 and divorced when he was 11, according to court records.

    Even years later, Zarate spoke about the divorce all the time, according to Moises Mari, a stepbrother who lives in Newport News, Va.

    So he was down about his parents’ divorce. Boo-freakin’ hoo. I don’t care if his parents beat him with barbed wire it’s still no excuse to choke, bludgeon, stab, and dismember a 16-year-old girl. If this is what the defense will be basing their insanity defense on then they have their work cut out for them. Then again this is New Jersey. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

  • Jennifer Parks Remembered

    Jennifer Parks Remembered

    Randolph students to honor slain classmate:

    Classmates of Jennifer Parks from Randolph High School in New Jersey are honoring her by creating two scholarships in her name. If you haven’t been following, 16-year-old Jennifer Parks was “allegedly” bludgeoned, stabbed and dismembered by her next-door neighbor Jonathan Zarate.

    Students hope to raise enough money to provide two $500 scholarships in Ms. Parks’ name, but the idea of buying books for the school library would be a special tribute to their classmate.

    I’ve been keeping in contact with Jen’s mom. She really liked the idea of buying new books because Jen liked to read a lot. We would put her name in the front of each book as a memorial.

    Does this sound like someone who some people think deserved what she got?

    If you’re in or near the Randolph, NJ area, why not throw a couple of bucks their way.

  • Jonathan Zarate Update

    Jonathan Zarate Update

    DNA taken from teens in girl’s death:

    This is an update on the case of Jonathan Zarate. He’s the scumbag who allegedly bludgeoned, stabbed, killed, and dismembered 16-year-old Jennifer Parks.

    The last time we heard, his lawyer was planning an insanity defense. At that time, a few people left comments stating that Zarate’s younger brother did it and that Zarate was covering for him.

    Well, Zarate’s brother, only identified as “J.Z.”, and the other teenage accomplice, identified as “V.B.”, have claimed that they had nothing to do with the killing.

    Meanwhile, Morris County investigators have obtained DNA samples from the two. If their DNA is found on Jennifer Parks’ body, then the charges could be upgraded. Right now, they’re only charged with illegally disposing of human remains.

  • Insanity Plea for Jonathan Zarate?

    Insanity Plea for Jonathan Zarate?

    The other day I told you about the case of Jonathan Zarate who killed and dismembered 16-year-old Jennifer Parks, then hid her body in the back of his dad’s jeep for a day. Well, now the defense attorney says that he might be going for an insanity defense. That seems to be all the rage lately.

    “From what I’ve heard, he was in an uncontrolled rage,” Fusco told The New York Times. “There was nothing going on that you can point to and say they were fighting or something happened between the two of them.”

    That’s just more reason to lock him up. Better yet, stuff his ass into a steamer trunk then dump him into the Hudson in February.

    He’s not insane. He carried out a very precise and well-thought-out crime. Sadistic psychopath? Yes. Insane? Hardly.

  • Jonathan Zarate

    Jonathan Zarate

    New Jersey

    Invited her to watch TV, then stuffed cut-up body in trunk:

    Reason to Blow Up The World: The fact that this scumbag, Jonathan A. Zarate, invited the victim over to his house then stabbed her, dismembered her body, stashed in a steamer trunk, then left the trunk in his dad’s jeep for a day while a freaking birthday party was being held at the house. Too bad New Jersey is unlikely to execute. This guy was made for the death sentence.

    My condolences and prayers go out to the family and friends of Jennifer Parks.