Teen Charged In Grisly Slaying

As relatives grew frantic searching a Randolph neighborhood for a 16-year-old girl who had been missing for hours this weekend, her neighbors were having a party.

The sound of laughter and singing, including the strains of "Happy Birthday" in Spanish, wafted from the house next door as family members searched for Jennifer Parks on Saturday.

What they didn't know was that the girl was already dead, her dismembered body stuffed into a steamer trunk and stashed in the back of a neighbor's car just a few feet away. The girl's 18-year-old next-door neighbor pleaded not guilty Monday to her murder as Park's family struggled to come to terms with what had happened.

"She was there that whole day," said Cathy Dodd, Jennifer's aunt. "We were walking around the yard, looking for her, and she was still in the trunk. It's hard to believe something like this can happen to your own family."

Jonathan A. Zarate, of Randolph, is charged with murder, weapons offenses and hindering apprehension in the death of Parks.

Zarate invited the 16-year-old to his home to watch television but became angry, punching, beating and then stabbing her in the basement about 2 a.m. Saturday, Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio said Monday.

Authorities say Zarate, who is being held on $1 million bail, used a knife to cut the legs off the body before putting the dismembered corpse in the steamer trunk. Allegedly, he then stashed the trunk for a day in his father's Jeep.

"It's a pure act of murder," Rubbinaccio said.

The prosecutor said investigators are trying to determine whether a previous dispute between Zarate's younger brother and the victim played any part in her death.

The body of Parks was found by a police officer suspicious about a car - and the three teens in it - that was parked on a bridge over the Passaic River early Sunday.

Rubbinaccio credited the officer, who was returning from a motor vehicle stop, with the crucial break in the case, stopping the teens as they prepared to heave the steamer trunk into the river.

The juveniles, who were not named by authorities, were charged with unlawful disposal of human remains and tampering with evidence. One of them is Zarate's 14-year-old brother, Rubbinaccio said. Zarate also was charged with employing juveniles in the commission of a crime.

Authorities are digging up portions of the back yard of Zarate's family's home, searching for physical evidence in the case, including the knife used in the killing.

An autopsy by the Bergen County Medical Examiner's office determined that the girl died from blunt force trauma to the face and body, stab wounds to the neck and abdomen, and mechanical asphyxiation.

There was no sexual overture made during the time the two were at Zarate's house, the prosecutor said.

Relatives described Parks as a good kid who loved to read and mostly kept to herself and never bothered anyone else.

"She always had a smile," said Dodd.

Rubbinaccio said that during their argument, Zarate punched Parks in the face, then beat her with a metal pole and stabbed her repeatedly before dismembering her body to fit it into the trunk.

Anthony Fusco Jr., Zarate's attorney, said he had not had a chance to speak in detail with his client, and declined to comment on what his defense might be.

"There's a family grieving for the loss of their child," he said. "Anything else would be inappropriate" to say.

By Wayne Parry