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Conklin, Darlene Ellen April 1981; Monsey NJ
Topic Started: Feb 9 2011, 10:48 PM (1,632 Views)
monkalup
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.lohud.com/article/20110209/NEWS...nce-as-homicide
Ramapo cops reinvestigating woman's 1981 disappearance as homicide

By Steve Lieberman • slieberm@lohud.com • February 9, 2011


RAMAPO — Based on a tipster's information, Ramapo police detectives have reopened a case involving a woman's disappearance from the Monsey area in April 1981 as a homicide.

Darlene Ellen Conklin's brother said the family has long believed someone killed his sister.

Ramapo and New Jersey police never came to a definitive conclusion three decades ago after an investigation into the 21-year-old woman's disappearance.

"Information obtained indicates that Darlene may have been killed and that her body was disposed of," Ramapo Detective Lt. Mark Emma said.

Police don't have any definitive suspects.

Sgt. Thomas Dolan and detectives have been working on the Conklin case since September. They have spoken with her brother in New Jersey and other potential witnesses.

Ramapo police said they are trying find police reports concerning a body found somewhere in the country wrapped in a Westchester moving van company’s blanket around the same time Conklin’s family reported her missing. Their hope is the report describes the victim’s physique and refers to tattoos on her hands.

The report could hold a key to determining if the dead woman fits Conklin's description.

Ramapo police said the report might discuss a key piece of physical evidence. Conklin had a tattoo on one hand that read, "love" and either "jerry," "terry" or "hate" on the other hand.

Anyone with any information about Conklin can call the Ramapo Police Department Detective Bureau at 845-357-4626 or the general number at 845-357-2400.
Lauran

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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monkalup
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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/...showtopic=18008
Lauran

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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monkalup
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RAMAPO — Darlene Ellen Conklin disappeared without a trace from her Monsey home in April 1981.

While her family in New Jersey has long believed someone killed her and disposed of her body, there has never been a definitive conclusion by police, who did a missing-person investigation into the 21-year-old woman's disappearance.

Based on a tip, Ramapo police have reopened the probe of her disappearance as an unknown-death investigation but they suspect she was killed and her body dumped.

Although the trail is no longer fresh after 30 years, investigators say there still might be people around who knew her or knew about her disappearance. But there is no body, they said, and there remain many unknowns and much potential evidence to track down.

One key is learning whether another police agency found Conklin's body. She had distinct physical marks: tattoos on her hands, which police said were not that common in 1981.

Ramapo police said they are trying find police reports concerning a body found elsewhere in the nation that was wrapped in a Westchester moving van company's blanket about the time Conklin's family reported her missing. Their hope is the report describes Conklin's physique and refers to tattoos on her hands.

Ramapo police Sgt. Thomas Dolan recently visited Conklin's brother, Thomas Conklin Jr., 52, at his Franklin, N.J., home to talk about a new investigation into his younger sister's disappearance.

Thomas Conklin has three brothers and two other sisters living in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.

"There was a knock on the door," Thomas Conklin said. "My wife answered and said he was from the Ramapo police. He wanted to ask me questions. My jaw dropped. I had to sit down.

"I didn't know what to say, at first," Conklin said. "Everything came back to life."

Nearly three decades after her disappearance, memories of events may have faded, but the raw emotions of losing a loved one remain.

"After 30 years, it's hard to remember much details," Conklin said. "The last time I spoke to her back in 1981 was the usual, 'What are you up to?' She told me she was having a good time. She seemed happy.

The phone calls then stopped coming; no nothing," Conklin said. "That was strange. She always called our mom, no matter what. They were very close."

Conklin's mother, Delores Conklin, died five years ago without knowing what happened to her daughter.

In 1981, she had filed a missing-person report and routinely checked in with the local police in New Jersey, always hoping for a phone call from her daughter. Her son said she contacted television shows such as "Unsolved Mysteries" or missing-person programs.

"My mother knew in her heart that something bad had happened," Conklin said. "We all did. We didn't know what. Everybody was broken-hearted."

Ramapo police are trying to put all the pieces together with hopes of giving the family closure and possibly making an arrest in Conklin's disappearance.

There is no statute of limitations on murder.

The case came back to the Ramapo Police Department's attention in September when Dolan received a tip about a woman being killed in April 1981. He reacted with some skepticism about an event of three decades ago that came to police as a missing person.

The tipster told Dolan about hearing people talk about a woman being killed in 1981 in Monsey, where Darlene Conklin had been living with a boyfriend in a house off routes 59 and 306.

The tipster didn't know the woman's name, where her body ended up or many details, Dolan said. The information fit with a missing-person report concerning Conklin, Dolan said.

"Initially , I didn't believe it," Dolan said. "We started to look into what the person told us," Dolan said. "We asked a bunch of questions. The more we looked, the more legit it became."

Retracing Darlene Conklin's life also became part of the investigation. Police are trying to find old friends, boyfriends and acquaintances. Finding her body or learning that some agency had found her body would be a start, police said.

Conklin had a tattoo on one hand that read "love" and either "jerry," "terry" or "hate" on the other hand, police said. Her brother said "terry" was for a former boyfriend. He said his sister also copied a tattoo on their father's hands.

He said their father served time in Rahway State Prison and spent his later years living in a park in Harrison, N.J., before dying in the early 1990s. He said his father had a drinking problem, as did a brother whom he hasn't heard from in about eight years.

"Our father had a prison tattoo of 'love and hate' across his fingers," Thomas Conklin said. "He and Darlene were close. She got the idea from him. I tried to help him out. He didn't want to change."

Conklin said his sister enjoyed life, which might have been her undoing.

"She was a fun girl," he said. "She was not one of those people who hide. She enjoyed her life. That might have backfired on her. She might have been with the wong people."

Detective Lt. Mark Emma said Darlene Conklin lived with a boyfriend in Monsey and that they had spent time with others near the former U.S. Gypsum plant on the Haverstraw waterfront, a place where people hung out and partied. He said there was a small beach on the water.

"We're looking for people who knew her," Emma said.

Darlene Conklin's death could be added to the more than a dozen unresolved homicides in Rockland over the past 40 years. In many cases, police have said, they had a strong idea who committed the killings but couldn't prove it.

Police said the victims are never forgotten, even when their cases gather dust in filing cabinets.

And Darlene Conklin is not forgotten by her family. The mere mention of her name at family gatherings can evoke memories among her siblings, said Thomas Conklin's wife, Janice, who never met her husband's sister.

"She always comes up in conversation," Janice Conklin said. "Someone would always bring up a memory."

She said many in the family had lost hope of finding out the entire truth and who might have killed her. The family has questions but no answers.

"They might consider this a lost cause because it happened years ago," she said. "We're hoping for some closure."

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011102100409
Lauran

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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monkalup
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Ramapo cops talk to ex-boyfriend of Monsey woman reported missing in 1981

By Steve Lieberman • slieberm@lohud.com • February 11, 2011


A New Jersey man considered one of the last people to have seen Darlene Ellen Conklin alive in 1981 has offered little assistance to Ramapo detectives now investigating the Monsey woman's disappearance as a homicide, police said Thursday.

Stephen P. Szanyi and Conklin lived together in a house off Route 59 near Route 306 in April 1981, police said Thursday. She was 21 and he was 22 when she disappeared.

After receiving a tip in September that Conklin had been killed and her body dumped back in 1981, Ramapo police began backtracking and looking for her friends, family and anyone who knew her in Monsey and New Jersey, where her family lived.

Sgt. Thomas Dolan, a lead investigator, said Thursday that the tipster told him Szanyi and Conklin were boyfriend and girlfriend and shared a home in Monsey.


Ramapo police investigators don't know where the woman's body was found or have a definitive description of the woman. The company operates across the country.

All police know is a law enforcement agency contacted Whalen's Moving and Storage of Mount Kisco around the time of Conklin's disappearance about the dead woman, Dolan said.

Until Ramapo investigators find the police agency and get the reports, they can't say that woman was or was not Conklin, or know the condition of the body or if the woman had been identified, Dolan said.

Ramapo detectives spoke with company workers and there are some indications that the body found in the blanket fit Conklin's description of a white woman with light brown hair, Dolan said.

"They do remember a Polaroid picture of this girl by the time clock," Dolan said. "They have all different descriptions."

Chris Martabano, a Whalen's manager, declined to comment Thursday when reached by phone.

On Thursday, a woman at Whalen's front desk recalled a detective coming to the business a couple of months ago, but she couldn't remember what department the detective was from.

A man who came out front to speak with a reporter said nobody who is at the business now was working there in 1981.

The man wouldn't identify himself and wouldn't answer any other questions.

If a body is found, Ramapo police have an identifying mark for Conklin — tattoos on her hands. On one hand the tattoo read "love" and either "jerry," "terry" or "hate" on the other hand, police said.

Her brother, Thomas Conklin Jr. of New Jersey, said "Terry" was for a former boyfriend. He said his sister copied the hand tattoos from their father, who had "love" and "hate" tattooed on his hands.

Thomas Conklin said his family always felt his sister had been killed.

He said his sister always called their mother, Delores, and when the calls stopped in 1981, she filed a missing-person's report. Delores Conklin died six years ago.

He said his family appreciates the Police Department's reopening of the investigation and hopes he and his siblings can get some closure.

"My mother knew in her heart that something bad had happened," Thomas Conklin said. "We all did. We didn't know what. Everybody was brokenhearted."
Next Page


Staff writer Sean Gorman contributed to this report.

Dolan said initial problems finding Szanyi ended when police learned the spelling of his last name.

After Szanyi was found in Newton, N.J., Detectives Thomas Byrnes and Thomas Hatch spoke to him in late January, Dolan said.

Szanyi didn't provide the detectives with much insight into what happened to his then-girlfriend, other than telling police she went off on her own for periods of time.

"His words essentially was, 'I don't know what happened.' She disappeared and she did that all the time," Dolan said. "This time he told them she took off and never came back."

Dolan said Szanyi is not a suspect in Conklin's disappearance, but the detectives left the interview believing he had not been completely cooperative.

"He's the last person to have seen her before she disappeared," Dolan said. "He's not a suspect at this time."

Szanyi couldn't be reached for comment. Dolan said he didn't have a number for him and had to travel to Newton to find him.

Based on a tip, Ramapo police said, they believe Conklin was killed and have reopened the case as an unknown-death investigation.

A key element of the case will be recovering her body.

One potential opening is a tip that a woman's body was found wrapped in a blanket bearing the name of a Westchester County moving van company soon after Conklin disappeared.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110211/NEWS...missing-in-1981
Lauran

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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monkalup
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Ramapo Police Department: Death Investigation

* Written By: Website Admin
* 2-11-2011
* Categorized in: Ramapo News

D._Conklin.JPGThe Town of Ramapo Police Department Detective Bureau is investigating the 1981 disappearance of Darlene Ellen Conklin. Darlene was las seeen around April of 1981, in the area of Monsey, New York. Information obtained indicates that Darlene may have been killed and that her bodu was disposed of. As of this date it is unknown whether her body has been recovered and not identified, or if she hasn't been found.

Darlene Ellen Conklin is Described as white female:
DOB: October 15, 1959
Height: Approximately 5' 8
Weight: Approximately 110- 130
Skin: Light
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown
Tattoos: Word tattoo's on both hands. They could appear to be 'love' on one hand and 'jerry', 'terry', or 'hate' on the other.

In the course of our investigation Ramapo recieved information that Detectives, from an unknown department, were conducting an investigation into a white female's body found wrapped in a moving pad. This investigation would have occured in the early to mid 1980's and could be associated with Darlene Conklin Case.

Ramapo Police are asking for anyone with any information, in regards to the above listed information, contact their Detective Bureau at (845)357-4626 or the main number (845)357-2400.

http://www.ramapotimes.com/articles/ramapo...estigation.html
Lauran

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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Ell
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Heart of Gold
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Franklin woman's cold case reheated

Darlene Conklin

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BY JEFF SISTRUNK

jsistrunk@njherald.com

FRANKLIN -- Ramapo, N.Y., police are following an anonymous tip that led to the the reopening of a 30-year-old missing-person's case concerning the disappearance of a former Franklin woman.

The woman, Darlene Ellen Conklin, may have been victim of a homicide.

In April 1981, Conklin, then 21, disappeared from her home in Monsey, N.Y., where she had been living with her boyfriend, said Ramapo police Sgt. Thomas Dolan, one of the officers working the case. While Conklin's family members believed she had been killed, investigations into her disappearance 30 years ago were inconclusive, Dolan said.

"Police didn't turn up much at the time," he said. "However, there are reports from back then that Darlene Conklin may have been killed."

Conklin grew up in Franklin, and her brother, Thomas Conklin Jr., still lives there. Calls to Thomas Conklin were not immediately returned.

Dolan said he believes there may still be people living in Sussex County who know something about Conklin's disappearance.

"I have reason to believe something may have been said to someone in Sussex County," he said. "There was likely a lot of discussion floating around about her back then. If there are people out there who heard something, the sooner we get them to speak up, the sooner we can move forward with the case."

The Ramapo Police Department reopened the case as an unknown-death investigation in September after a tipster called Dolan to tell him of how an acquaintance described killing a woman and disposing of her body back in 1981. While the tipster didn't know the woman's name or any details concerning where her body may have been dumped, the information was consistent with a missing-person's report filed about Conklin, Dolan said. The tipster's story ultimately proved to be credible, he said.

"I was reluctant at first to believe what the informant told me," Dolan said. "However, the more we investigated into what the person said, the more credible the story became."

Since the case was reopened, Ramapo police have interviewed several people about Conklin's disappearance, but "haven't heard anything solid enough" to make any arrests, Dolan said.

Conklin's then-boyfriend, Stephen Szanyi, who shared a house with Conklin in Monsey off Route 59 near Route 306 at the time of her disappearance, now resides in Newton. He has been interviewed regarding Conklin's disappearance, Dolan said.

Recovering Conklin's body will be crucial to cracking the case, Dolan said. According to police, Conklin had distinctive tattoos on both hands -- â love' on one hand and possibly â jerry,' â terry,' or â hate' on the other.

Dolan said Ramapo police have been investigating another -- possibly related -- report that a woman's body was found wrapped in a blanket etched with the name of a Westchester County moving company shortly after Conklin vanished. Detectives aren't clear on where the woman's body was found or whether her description matched that of Conklin, he said. However, Ramapo police do know that an as-yet unidentified law enforcement agency reached out to Whalen's Moving and Storage of Mt. Kisco, N.Y. seeking information about the dead woman sometime after Conklin's disappearance.

Several people interviewed about Conklin's disappearance back in 1981 worked for a subsidiary of Whalen's, Dolan said. Once investigators find the law enforcement agency that contacted the company, they will be able to access reports concerning the body and determine if the body could have been Conklin's, he said.

Anyone with any information about the case may call the Ramapo Police Department Detective Bureau at 845-357-4626 or the general number at 845-357-2400
http://www.njherald.com/story/news/COLDCASE3-27-11-clone
Ell

Only after the last tree has been
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Only after the last fish has been
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Only after the last river has been
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Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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