LODI DEATH CALLED MURDER; Woman, 68, Was Found in Closet

By Michael O. Allen and Janet DeStefano, Record Staff Writers | Saturday, February 22, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | A03

Authorities confirmed on Friday that Ann Li Gregni, the 68-year-old Lodi woman found dead Thursday in a closet in her home, was murdered, but they did not provide details on their investigation.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy would not comment on what kind of wound, if any, was on the woman’s body. The cause and time of the woman’s death had not been determined late Friday afternoon, he said, declining to comment on reports that she had been strangled or suffocated.

Workers at Gibraltar Plastics in Lodi, where Li Gregni worked as a billing clerk for 15 years, called authorities when she did not show up for work Thursday morning. Police and family members discovered her body about 11 a.m. in the brick home on Avenue C she shared with a 16-year-old granddaughter.

Police were searching for an unidentified person believed to have driven away from the house Thursday morning in the victim’s car.

Lt. Richard Desimone said police questioned “a couple of family members,” but declined to say who. The granddaughter’s whereabouts remained unclear.

Li Gregni’s neighbors on Avenue C, a quiet block where the homes are well tended, said they were shaken by the murder. “She was a hard-working woman . . . and we’re in shock over this,” said Angelo Cangelosi, who lives next door.

Neighbors say Li Gregni’s life revolved around her granddaughter, Dawn, who lived with her.

She saved her salary so that she could send Dawn to Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi and eventually to college. They said she planned to retire in May so that she could spend more time with Dawn.

“She was extremely protective of her granddaughter,” said Elizabeth Sanders, Li Gregni’s boss at Gibraltar Plastics.

ID: 17369478 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)