INMATE WHO TRIED SUICIDE HOSPITALIZED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 26, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A03

A 34-year-old Elizabeth woman was under observation at Bergen Pines County Hospital on Saturday after an apparent suicide attempt at the Bergen County Jail Annex.

The woman, who was identified by Westwood police as Linda Ferchinger, tried to hang herself Monday night, said Nancy Feldman, director of the state Office of Inmate Advocacy.

Feldman said she did not know if Ferchinger was under a suicide watch at the time. An investigator will interview her Monday.

Sheriff Jack Terhune, who has declined to comment, said Saturday that Ferchinger was no longer the responsibility of his department because she had been released on $500 personal recognizance bail.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Friday that his office had downgraded the theft charge against Ferchinger to a disorderly person offense and returned the case to the Municipal Court.

Terhune said authorities in Union and Sommerset counties want Ferchinger for violating probation and would be able to pick her up as soon as she is released from the hospital.

The suicide try was the second in two months by an inmate in the custody of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. Four inmates have committed suicide in the past year.

In March, George Kellam, a 25-year-old fugitive who surrendered to authorities, slashed his wrist in a holding cell at the Bergen County Courthouse. He had been waiting to be transferred to the jail.

The Queens man was stopped by sheriff’s officers and was taken to Bergen Pines. He was in the Bergen County Jail Annex on Friday awaiting sentencing on drug possession charges.

Westwood Lt. Robert Saul said Ferchinger was arrested April 17 and charged with stealing jewelry from a resident.

SLAYING SUSPECT KILLS SELF IN JAIL; Charged in Death of Lodi Woman

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, February 27, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B01

A Passaic man who was charged Tuesday with killing a Lodi grandmother committed suicide in the Bergen County Jail early Wednesday.

Robert Irving, 20, the boyfriend of the victim’s 16-year-old granddaughter, was found in his cell by a corrections officer who had come to deliver breakfast, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

“He choked himself with the shoelace, and there was a sock that was found in his mouth also, but I haven’t received all the details at this time,” he said.

The prosecutor said his office will investigate the suicide, the third since May and the fifth death in the jail since March. “It’s something that I’m going to be looking at,” Fahy said. “I am disturbed that people are committing suicide in the jail, and it does not appear as if, perhaps, the proper procedures are in place to make sure that this does not happen.

“I am familiar with the 20 or so other county jails in the state, and I don’t know of this happening with this kind of frequency at the other jails.”

Irving had been accused of strangling Ann Roma Li Gregni in her home at Avenue C last Thursday. Her body was found wrapped in a blanket in a basement closet.

At 3 a.m. of the day of the killing, Irving climbed into the bedroom window of Li Gregni’s granddaughter, Dawn, who lived with her, and spent about two hours there, Fahy said. Dawn is not suspected of involvement in the crime.

Irving, who was in the house without Li Gregni’s knowledge, returned after she left 7:30 a.m. to take her granddaughter to Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi.

“We believe that he didn’t know she would be there,” he said. “The grandmother’s pattern was to get up, drop the granddaughter off at school, go to work, then come back home.”

But Li Gregni, who disapproved of her granddaughter’s relationship with Irving, had been ill and had not reported to her job as a billing clerk at Gibraltar Plastics in Lodi for a few days. She was seen dropping off Dawn at the school 7:45 a.m., then bought bread at a Lodi bakery.

The loaves later were found on her kitchen counter.

Meanwhile, Irving let himself into the house with a key Dawn had given him two years ago, Fahy said.

“Irving probably assumed the grandmother would not be home, and he was just hanging out at the house. Then she surprised him by coming into the house. From there, we ended up with a murder,” the prosecutor said.

Li Gregni’s daughter, Elaine Tufaro of Garfield, became concerned when she could not reach her mother, Fahy said. The woman had not called in sick to work. Tufaro then called Lodi police, who found her body at 11:10 a.m. Thursday.

An autopsy performed Friday revealed that she had been strangled, Fahy said.

Investigators discovered that her pocketbook, keys, and 1987 Honda Civic were missing, the prosecutor said. A neighbor saw the car leave the house about 8:25 a.m. but did not see who was driving, he said.

“He was a suspect from the beginning. He was always our suspect,” Fahy said.

He added that Li Gregni family members knew Irving often entered the house through Dawn’s bedroom window and left through a basement window to avoid Li Gregni.

On Friday evening, a Passaic patrolman saw the car in an unpaved parking lot adjacent to an apartment building at 75 Hope St.

Authorities then watched the car during the weekend, but removed it when no one came for it. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Department’s Bureau of Criminal Identification processed it for fingerprints, and a positive identification of Irving’s fingerprint was found on the shift handle, Fahy said.

Irving was arrested at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Passaic apartment he shared with his mother and siblings. He was charged with murder and theft, and bail was set at $1 million.

Bergen County Undersheriff Mary Ellen Bolton said Irving did not appear to be a suicide risk when he was brought to the jail at 10:55 p.m. Tuesday. “The inmate was brought to the booking area, and a general assessment was conducted by the medical staff and determined that he was acceptable for general population,” she said.

“Had this gentleman been identified as a risk for suicide, he would have been put in a separate unit in the jail annex and put under suicide watch.
“At 5, he was identified as awake and alert. At 6 a.m., he appeared to be sleeping when an officer made his rounds. And at 7:05, the officer attempted to wake him to serve him his breakfast, and he was identified as deceased.”

Bolton said the Sheriff’s Department’s Detective Bureau was conducting an investigation into the death. Irving was alone in the cell.

Sheriff Jack Terhune was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

Irving’s mother, Millie, did not wish to comment. John Bethea, who said he is a family friend and next-door neighbor, said Irving was “one of the quietest kids.”

“I’ve never seen him do anything,” he said. “To me, he was one of the perfect kids didn’t drink, didn’t do nothing.”

Fahy said Irving had a “substantial criminal record,” including serving a one-year term on a narcotics charge and an arrest last month on an arson charge.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections said Irving was paroled in October. He had been in the state prison system since November 1990 on a narcotics charge, she said.

Two other suicides occurred in the jail in the past year.

In May, Christian F. Shane, 21, of Fair Lawn hanged himself in his cell with a sheet tied to a bar above his door.

John Russell of Fair Lawn, who was jailed Aug. 23 for violating probation, hanged himself in a shower with his shoelaces. He had spent about a month in Bergen Pines County Hospital for psychiatric treatment.

The two suicides led to staffing changes in the jail, including the addition of a second officer in its psychiatric ward.

HUDSON MAN LEAPS FROM G.W. BRIDGE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, November 24, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

A 65-year-old Union City man left his car running on the George Washington Bridge on Saturday morning, climbed over two railings, and jumped, apparently to his death, Port Authority police said.

Police were withholding the man’s identity because his body had not been found, despite a three-hour search by the U.S. Coast Guard, a New York City Police Department marine unit and helicopter, and Port Authority police officers, said Port Authority police Lt. Gil Sadler.

Eyewitnesses reported that a New Jersey-bound car stopped midspan on the upper level about 8:50 a.m. They reported that the driver got out, climbed two barriers, and jumped into the river, Sadler said.

Port Authority police officers Robert Weckerle and Reggie Bates found a blue 1984 Audi parked near the spot from which eyewitnesses said the man jumped.

Police found several pieces of identification in the car and spoke to the family of the man.

Notes: Bergen page

MATRICIDE-SUICIDE IN TENAFLY

By Michael O. Allen and Bill Sanderson, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, July 4, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

Correction: Jack Fonder, who authorities believe killed himself after stabbing his mother to death in their Tenafly home, recently spent a month at Fair Oaks Hospital in Boca Del Ray, Fla., according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. The hospital was misidentified in The Record on Wednesday. (PUBLISHED SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1991, ae, a02)

A Tenafly woman was stabbed to death by her mentally disturbed son, who then turned the knife on himself and committed suicide, investigators said Wednesday.

Estelle Fonder, 57, was found in a bathroom of her family’s five-bedroom home on Deerfield Drive, a cul-de-sac in a neighborhood of ranch-style houses surrounded by broad lawns and stout trees. Her son Jack, 24, was found dead in the living room.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said cuts and abrasions on her hands led investigators to believe she struggled with her son before she died. Investigators assume Jack Fonder killed himself, partly because no similar wounds were found on his body.

Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune said officers from his Bureau of Criminal Investigation collected samples of blood throughout the house.

“It appeared that there was a violent struggle prior to the demise of Mrs. Fonder,” Terhune said. “There was blood spattered throughout the house in the bathroom, hallways, kitchen, and the living room.”

Fahy said Jack Fonder had recently been released after spending a month at Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, a private psychiatric hospital.

“No one has told us they heard a fight going on,” Fahy said. “The son was suffering from psychiatric problems. Everyone in the family knew that.”

The exact time and cause of the deaths will be determined by autopsy. Medical examiners were studying the bodies on Wednesday, Fahy said.

The victims were found dead at 10:11 p.m. Tuesday by Edward Fonder, Estelle’s husband and Jack’s father. Fahy said Fonder, a pharmacist who owns the Midtown Pharmacy in Closter, was returning home from work.

The Fonders have two other sons James, who owns a bicycle shop in Closter, and Steven. Though the Fonders have owned the five-bedroom house since 1968, neighbors said they knew little of the family.

Keywords: SUICIDE; TENAFLY; ESTELLE FONDER; JACK FONDER; EDWARD FONDER

OFFICER COMMITS SUICIDE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 17, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star Two Star | NEWS | Page B03

The body of a 25-year-old township police officer who was distraught over the dissolution of his marriage was discovered at his Grand Avenue apartment on Wednesday, police said.
Albert C. Cabrera who was named the township’s outstanding police officer of the year in 1988, his first year on the job was found by a fellow officer who had volunteered to look in on him when he did not show up for his shift Wednesday, Lt. Timothy Kelly said.
Officer Robert Conlon found Cabrera in the bedroom formerly used by his 10-month-old daughter. Cabrera had a gunshot wound to the head and a gun in his hand. Investigators placed the time of death at about 10 p.m. Monday, Kelly said.
“Our investigation concluded that it was definitely a self-inflicted wound,” Kelly said.
Cabrera was depressed about his separation from his wife and daughter, Kelly said. The wife obtained a restraining order from a Jersey City Family Court judge on April 19 to keep him away from her and the child. She had been living with her mother in Jersey City since the separation, Kelly said.
He said he did not know why Cabrera’s wife had sought the restraining order.
The depression did not show in Cabrera’s work, Kelly said.
“The department is in complete shock,” Kelly said. “He was a very personable young man. He was an excellent police officer, a very conscientious patrolman.”

Keywords: NORTH BERGEN; POLICE; SUICIDE

MAN KILLS ESTRANGED WIFE, SELF; SLITS HER THROAT AND CUTS HIS OWN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, February 17, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

About 7:30 a.m. Friday, the day Mladen Fatovic was going to die, he called his supervisor at work, said he was not feeling well, and asked for the day off.
Sometime before 3 p.m. that day, the 48-year-old man went to the home of his estranged wife in Cliffside Park and slit her throat.
He then went back to the Little Ferry apartment he moved into at the outset of the couple’s separation about six months ago and killed himself, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said.
Fatovic had cuts to his throat, his wrist, his chest, “all over his body,” Fahy said.
A kitchen knife with a 8-inch blade, believed to have been used in both killings, was found in Fatovic’s bedroom, Fahy added. A note at the scene indicated the death was suicide, he said.
Autopsies will be performed today on the bodies of Fatovic and his wife, Marija, 43, Fahy said. The post-mortems are expected to confirm the cause and exact time of the deaths; otherwise, the investigation is considered closed, he said.
Henry Fatovic, the couple’s 20-year-old son, had left their Cliffside Park home for work about 7 a.m., and their other son, Robert, 21, left about an hour later. Henry Fatovic discovered his mother’s body in the bedroom when he returned home from work about 3 p.m. Friday, and called police.
“Her throat was slashed and it appears that she bled to death,” Fahy said.
There were signs of struggle in the house, Fahy said, but the door was locked when Henry Fatovic returned home and there was no sign of forced entry and no indication that anything was taken from the house.
Investigators went to Fatovic’s apartment because he had a key to the family house, Fahy said.
Homicide investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office, Cliffside Park police detectives, and Little Ferry police arrived at 36 Marshall Ave. in Little Ferry about 4 p.m. to find Fatovic’s fully clothed body on the bedroom floor, he said.
On Saturday afternoon, at the modest single-family West End Avenue home in Cliffside Park, the mail was uncollected and the porch light was on. An old Chevrolet truck with a “For Sale” sign in the window was in the driveway, in front of a blue Ford Thunderbird.
No one was home, and neighbors were not talking. A 20-year-old man who said that he had worked for four years at Shop Rite with Henry Fatovic and that he knew the family well said he never noticed any discord. He said he was shaken by the deaths, and declined to give his name.
Nino Fatovic of Little Ferry would say no more than that Mladen Fatovic was his brother. Neither son could be reached.
Marija Fatovic was an aide at North Bergen Senior Citizens Nutrition Center. The center could not be reached for comment.
David Ivanac, 49, supervisor at Rochelle Park’s FIMS Manufacturing Corp., where Fatovic was an assembly-line machinist, said he was a good, hard-working man who was sometimes impatient and hot-tempered.
“He loves his wife so much; he was so jealous,” Ivanac said. “I said to him, `Stay away. You know, two people, they can’t live together. These are nice people, no question about it.
“I can expect him to do something, like walk away, or something like that, but never something like this. “
Ivanac said he and Fatovic knew each other as children in Sestrunj, a small island of about 500 people, near Zadar in the Croatian republic of Yugoslavia, but weren’t friends then. They worked together in France for about 11 years and came to the United States about seven years ago, he said.
The Fatovics lived with his wife’s brother for a few months before moving to the West End Avenue home, Ivanac said. He said he did not know the cause of the couple’s separation.
Fahy said the couple was in the process of getting a divorce.
Ivanac said Fatovic often worked about 50 hours per week, but that he left an hour early Thursday to have dinner with his son Henry. Then he called in sick Friday morning.

Keywords: MURDER; FAMILY; SUICIDE; CLIFFSIDE PARK; LITTLE FERRY; MLADEN FATOVIC

NJ TRANSIT TRAIN KILLS MAN IN MAHWAH

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 20, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

A man was struck and killed by a northbound NJ Transit train as he was lying on the railroad track Tuesday night, police said.

Mahwah police Lt. Jim Bartelli said police were not ruling the death a suicide at this time, adding that the identification of the victim would be withheld until it could be confirmed with the family. Bartelli gave no description of the victim, other than to say he was Hispanic.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Bartelli said.

The engineer of the train, which left Hoboken for Suffern, N.Y., at 10:15 p.m., applied the brakes and sounded a whistle as soon when he saw the man on the track, said Sandra Check, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

“The person failed to move,” Check said. “There was just no way to stop.”

The accident occurred about 11:21 p.m., about 1 1/4 miles from the Ramsey station, Check said.

None of the 10 passengers and about five NJ Transit employees on the train was injured, Check said.

The passengers were put on a bus and taken to their destinations. The tracks in both directions were closed for about two hours, until emergency vehicles were cleared from the scene.

Bartelli said Mahwah police were trying to determine where the man was going and what he was doing on the track at the time of the accident.

“We have a tentative identity but we are not a hundred percent sure until we speak to next of kin,” he said.