Millville man charged in Susan Negersmith cold case in Wildwood
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – A man who raped a Wildwood vacationer found slain in 1990 eluded detectives for decades.
But authorities say a suspect in the case couldn’t escape recent advances in DNA technology.
Jerry Rosado, 62, of Millville has been charged with the sexual assault of Susan Negersmith, a 20-year-old New York state woman who was killed while visiting Wildwood with friends 32 years ago.
An investigation into Negersmith’s homicide is ongoing, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s office said.
More: Washington Township attorney accused of secretly recording girls at home bathroom
More: 'Nicest, sweetest person': Bellmawr woman, mother of three, fatally struck in Brooklawn
“And should additional information become available, additional charges could be made,” it said.
“Countless law enforcement professionals and prosecutors have worked on resolving this case over the last 32 years,” Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said in announcing Rosado’s arrest.
He said that intensive effort, “in conjunction with the improvements in DNA technology and genetic genealogy analysis, has led to this long overdue arrest.”
The arrest came almost six years after the death of the victim's father, Kent Negersmith, who repeatedly had prodded investigators and the media to bring attention to the cold case.
Susan Negersmith, who lived in Carmel, about 60 miles northeast of New York City, had traveled to Wildwood for Memorial Day weekend in 1990. Her partially clothed body was found on a Sunday morning in a storage area outside a restaurant.
The death was initially ruled accidental, caused by hypothermia complicated by intoxication.
But that determination changed to homicide five years later, after the family sued the county medical examiner and the state. Pathologists who re-examined the case at that time found evidence in preserved tissues that Negersmith was strangled.
The Negersmith family also pressed successfully in 1996 to end the statute of limitations for sexual assault charges.
Sutherland said DNA evidence recovered from the woman’s body was compared to multiple persons of interest over the years, but with negative results.
The prosecutor’s office took a new approach in 2018, using a investigative technique that looks for genetic relatives of an unknown suspect.
That technique, called genetic genealogy analysis, led to Rosado, the prosecutor’s office said.
Rosado was being held in Cape May County Jail.
The charge against Rosado is only an allegation. He has not been convicted in the case.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the prosecutor’s office at 609-465-1135 or Cape May County Crime Stoppers at 609-889-3597.
Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
Support local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Wildwood cold case: Susan Negersmith investigation began in May 1990
