Who killed Sharon Thor? Franklin, NJ murder remains unsolved four decades later
FRANKLIN - Noel Torrado remembers the 1982 tragic murder of his 15-year-old sister Sharon Thor as if it happened yesterday.
Even though 40 years have passed, Torrado never forgot his sister. Neither has his mother.
And the murder has not been solved.
"We can't bring up my sister's name without my mom getting upset," said Torrado.
His mother wears a heart-shaped pendant with the image of her only daughter, Sharon, everyday.
"I don't know if she takes it off," he said. "I know it's with her every day. That's all she's got now are pictures and memories. Forty years is a long time."
Torrado said no one wants his sister's killer captured and brought to justice more than him and his family.
The murder of the Franklin High School student on Oct. 26, 1982 is one of Franklin's longest unsolved cases, a point emphasized during a recent Franklin Police Department Citizen's Academy course that businessman Frank Paul Resta attended.
"I lived in the town my whole life so I remember this as a kid. I remember saying so many times, 'I can't believe they never found those guys,' " Resta said.
Franklin rallies to offer reward
About two months ago after completing the course, Resta, who didn't know Sharon, decided to offer a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest, indictment and conviction of her killer.
A Facebook video about the reward sparked interest and neighbors and customers in town also offered to add money to the reward which now totals about $1,700.
Marie Fiorello saw the video and immediately thought about playwright Nick Pelino Jr.'s script "Remembering Sharon."
Pelino was Sharon's neighbor when she was brutally killed. Fiorello contacted Resta about performing the play as a fundraiser for the reward.
She met with Resta and gave him a copy of the script and they both decided they had to do it.
A staged reading of "Remember Sharon" will be performed 8 p.m. Aug. 26 and 2 p.m. Aug. 27, featuring 10 actors including Resta and directed by Fiorello, at the Villagers Theatre, 475 DeMott Lane.
"The play is so powerful because it's a true story and it's unsolved and it's a 15-year-old girl," said Resta, who will portray Thor's brother Frank in his stage debut.
Fiorello said Pelino, a close friend who died from a brain tumor in 2014, would be "absolutely thrilled."
Fiorello was working at the Villagers Theatre in 1996 when she met Pelino who was about to be or had just become the theatre's managing director. One of their first conversations was about his neighbor Sharon who had been murdered on their street and how it had affected his life and continued to haunt him.
She said Pelino had done some investigative work in 2003, talked to police and prosecutors, who had apparently run into roadblocks on a trail for DNA evidence. Frustrated, Pelino turned to writing a play about the investigation.
"He said to me before he passed away if I ever do one of his shows, please let it be 'Remembering Sharon'. So at his memorial we did do a reading of the play, but it was not a public event," Fiorello said.
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This production, before an audience, means putting all the pieces together, Fiorello said.
"I feel like I'm fulfilling a promise that I made to him before he passed away so that makes me feel good. I'm glad that I could do that for him," said Fiorello, adding Pelino's sister bought tickets to the performance.
"You see a lot of movies and tv shows about cold cases but I don't know if there has ever been a live production that deals with that. It's kind of groundbreaking and really exciting," she added.
Sharon never returned home
On Oct. 26, 1982 Sharon Thor rushed outside her Franklin home and climbed into the passenger side of a vehicle after receiving a phone call from someone she apparently knew. She told her mother, Sonia that she would be right back, because they were scheduled to leave soon for Sharon’s weekly ballet class in Bound Brook.
Sharon never returned home.
Three days after her disappearance Sharon’s body was found in a wooded area off a dirt road not far from the family's John E. Busch Avenue home. An autopsy revealed she had been dead since around 6:30 p.m. the day she disappeared. She died just days before her 16th birthday.
A neighborhood child reported seeing Sharon getting into a car near her home. Two men were in the vehicle, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office reported in 2009. The two men were believed to be in their late teens or early 20s and lived in Franklin, the Prosecutor's Office said. The caller and driver of the vehicle have never been identified.
Last year in marking the 40th anniversary of Sharon's death, the prosecutor's office said her murder remains an active homicide investigation by its Major Crimes Unit.
In 2019 Crime Stoppers of Somerset County offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Sharon’s death.
"The creepy thing is I'm sure I probably rubbed elbows with the murderers because they had to be someone she knew, for her to jump in the car and say, 'I'll be right back,' " Resta said, adding Sharon left the house without her hairbrush and purse and her body was found a quarter mile from her home.
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Sharon's mother has said she believes her daughter was attacked by two people, because as the only girl in a family of four boys she would have been able to fend off one attacker.
An autopsy determined Sharon died of a beating. She suffered multiple fractures of her ribs and head as well as internal hemorrhaging. Investigators believe Sharon may possibly have been sexually assaulted since her jeans and shirt had been partially removed. A cinderblock and 2-by-4-inch piece of wood found near her body are believed to have been used to kill her.
A quest for closure
Fiorello said in the play Dari Russoniello, a recent Franklin High School graduate who went to school with Sharon's niece, will portray Sharon, a role that doesn't have any lines but involves a ballet dance. Russoniello will also portray a friend of Sharon.
Sharon, a Franklin High School freshman who had big blue eyes and wavy hair, was an accomplished dancer who studied ballet, tap and jazz at the Neva McCrimmon School of Dance in Bound Brook with dreams of maybe one day having her own dance school.
Fiorello said her daughter will play the role of narrator and a longtime friend from Villagers Theatre will portray Sharon's mother, Sonia Thor, the biggest role in the production.
Torrado said he, his mother and other family members plan to attend the production.
"The exposure can't hurt right?" he said. He has his own theory of who is responsible and he hopes that advances with DNA might be helpful.
Resta has invited members of the Franklin Police Department and Somerset County Prosecutor's Office to attend the production and participate in a question-and-answer session afterward. Resta said the play paints a negative image of the police involved in the case at that time, but those officers no longer work for the department and there have been many changes in technology since then.
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Tickets for the production are $25 with half of ticket sales to be held by Villagers Theatere in a Sharon Reward Fund for up to five years. Donations also will be accepted toward the reward fund. After five years if the case remains unsolved, the funds will be donated to Parents of Murdered Children, an Ohio-based national organization.
"Nick didn't want anybody making money on this show, he states it specifically in the script, that it isn't a money making vehicle," Fiorello said. "It's to solve the crime. I really hope this time something gets done, I really do. I would love to see Mrs. Thor and her family get closure for this because it's been so long that they've lived with this tragedy."
"My dad passed away without closure I'm hoping my mom doesn't, but it looks that way, she's 82 and still going strong, but time is against her," Torrado said.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
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This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Who killed Sharon Thor? Franklin, NJ murder remains unsolved 40 years later
