Arrest made in 2013 Gloucester Township cold case murder of Carol Reiff
Authorities have announced an arrest in a decade-old cold case in Gloucester Township.
And a man who was interviewed in connection with the case in the days following discovery of the woman's remains has been charged with her murder thanks to advances in DNA testing, investigators said.
Carol Reiff, 59, went missing on June 21, 2013, failing to show up for a scheduled trip with family members and not answering her cellphone.
Gloucester Township police officers gained access to Reiff's apartment at the Lakeview Apartments and found her keys there and her car in the parking lot. Reiff, the Courier-Post reported in 2013, was an avid runner who worked at a Cherry Hill insurance agency.
Days later, Reiff's decomposed remains were discovered in a wooded area behind a maintenance building at the complex. An autopsy could not determine a cause of death due to the state of her remains, however.
Joseph Grisoff, a maintenance worker at the complex who lived near Reiff, was interviewed by police in the days following the discovery of her remains. He admitted knowing her and complimenting her in the past but claimed he'd never been inside her apartment.
Detectives discovered potential DNA evidence in the apartment, on a pair of Reiff's jeans and on an empty beer bottle. But testing at the time was inconclusive.
Advances in DNA testing technology revealed what prosecutors called "the strong proposition" that Reiff's and Grisoff's DNA were both on the jeans and the beer bottle.
Grisoff, now 59 and living in Mount Laurel, was arrested by U.S. Marshals Wednesday morning. He was taken to Camden County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing.
The charges against Grisoff are only allegations. He has not been convicted in connection with this case.
Anyone with information pertaining to this case is asked to contact Detective Jeremy Jankowski of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit at 856-397-3485 and Detective Michael Leach of the Gloucester Township Police Department at 856-228-4500.
Phaedra Trethan has been a reporter and editor in South Jersey since 2007 and has called the region home since 1971. Contact her at ptrethan@gannettnj.com, on Twitter @wordsbyPhaedra, or by phone at 856.486-2417.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Arrest made in 2013 cold case murder of Carol Reiff in Blackwood
