Rowan Class Reports on '07 Farrell Murder

PRESS RELEASE
October 11, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

As the fourth anniversary of the unsolved murder of Rowan University sophomore Donald Farrell III approaches, a class of 10 university journalism students is looking at his life and death on their campus.

Their semester of research and writing will eventually form the content of a Web site about Farrell and perhaps stir some social media exchanges about the slaying, helping to keep attention on a case still under investigation, by detectives from the Rowan Police Department and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Our goal for the class is pretty simple,” said adjunct instructor Amy Z. Quinn. “We’re telling Donny’s story.”

Farrell, a 19-year-old from Morris County NJ was walking with friends on Old Heston Road near Rowan’s Triad Apartments on the Saturday night of Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 27, 2007. He was approached by four or five males who asked for directions to a party. In what detectives believe was a random act, Farrell suffered blows to the head and neck. The assailants fled with his wallet. He died the next day from a ruptured artery in the neck.

Meeting with the students last month, GCPO and Rowan officers still working on the case said it has taken on a personal quality, from knowing the victim and continuing contacts with his family. “It’s a case we want solved,” said Rowan Det. Kevin Fenall.When fresh tips come in, current work is put aside and the new leads are investigated, Fennal said.

Former interview subjects are re-interviewed “just to keep it out there,” said GCPO Lt. Langdon Sills. They have worked with several other counties and the FBI’s Violent Crimes task Force, he added, and several experts were called on to enhance a convenience store video of one suspect. The officers tracked down more than 20 North Jersey/New York stores that sold the distinctive Coogie hoodie the suspect wore.

“We’ve done a lot,” Sills told the students. “It’s not enough, but we’re not going to stop.”

“We will continue to actively pursue this case until the persons responsible are held accountable for their actions,” said Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton. “The more Donnie’s story is told, the better our chances of receiving information that will help solve this case and bring his family some sense of closure.”

Anyone with information about participants in the attack that caused the death of Donald Farrell III is asked to phone the GCPO at (856) 384- 5604, the Rowan PD at (856) 256-4564 or leave an anonymous tip by texting GLOTIP plus the message and CRIMES (274637). A $100,000 reward has been offered for information leading to arrest and conviction in the case.