The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
http://cbs3.com/topstories/nj.cold.case.2.1581973.html
Cops: 30-Year-Old Cold Case Cracked In N.J.
Famblies Of 5 Boys Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago In N.J. Have Some Answers Now That 2 Men Have Been Arrested
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ― Police in New Jersey believe they've solved one of the state's oldest cold cases, one that dates back more than 30 years.
Two arrests were made Monday in connection with five missing boys who were never to be seen again.
But Monday night, police had suspects in custody and the boys' families finally getting answers to questions they've anguished over since August of 1978.
"After 30 years, you're no longer grieving, but you're still wondering," Helen Simmons, an aunt of one of the victims, told CBS station WCBS-TV back in May of 2009.
The parents of the five teens never knew the answers, until now. The teens, 16 and 17, who'd never been in trouble, disappeared from their own neighborhood.
They came to be known as the "Clinton Avenue Five."
"It's probably the most sensational case this city had in its past, in its history," Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy said.
Suddenly gone were Randy Johnson, Michael McDowell, Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, and Alvin Turner. That day, the five had played bassetball at a local park and then disappeared.
"They were murdered, pure and simple," Simmons said.
Lee Evans, who was last seen with the boys, has always denied any involvement in the disappearances, but was one of the two men apprehended by police on Monday.
Cops: 30-Year-Old Cold Case Cracked In N.J.
Famblies Of 5 Boys Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago In N.J. Have Some Answers Now That 2 Men Have Been Arrested
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ― Police in New Jersey believe they've solved one of the state's oldest cold cases, one that dates back more than 30 years.
Two arrests were made Monday in connection with five missing boys who were never to be seen again.
But Monday night, police had suspects in custody and the boys' families finally getting answers to questions they've anguished over since August of 1978.
"After 30 years, you're no longer grieving, but you're still wondering," Helen Simmons, an aunt of one of the victims, told CBS station WCBS-TV back in May of 2009.
The parents of the five teens never knew the answers, until now. The teens, 16 and 17, who'd never been in trouble, disappeared from their own neighborhood.
They came to be known as the "Clinton Avenue Five."
"It's probably the most sensational case this city had in its past, in its history," Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy said.
Suddenly gone were Randy Johnson, Michael McDowell, Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, and Alvin Turner. That day, the five had played bassetball at a local park and then disappeared.
"They were murdered, pure and simple," Simmons said.
Lee Evans, who was last seen with the boys, has always denied any involvement in the disappearances, but was one of the two men apprehended by police on Monday.