Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2011
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Sean Gardiner and Eileen Markey
Note: MAP archives articles exactly as published, except that our
editors may redact the names and addresses of accused persons who
have not been convicted of a crime, if those named are not otherwise
public figures or officials.

RUTGERS STUDENT KILLED, POLICE SAY

A Rutgers student with a history of mental illness and substance abuse
is being held on charges he murdered his 22-year-old girlfriend in his
parents' home in suburban Cranford.

The last previous murder in the central New Jersey township of
approximately 20,000 residents was in January 2006.

[name redacted] was ordered held Monday night on $400,000 bail for
allegedly murdering Pamela Schmidt, his girlfriend and a senior at
Rutgers University.

[name redacted]'s mother, [name2 redacted], said she called police to
their Tudor-style home Sunday at around noon after discovering Ms.
Schmidt dead in her son's basement bedroom. Authorities said Ms.
Schmidt was apparently beaten to death. Police arrested the son that
day.

[name2 redacted] said her 22-year-old son was diagnosed with bipolar
disorder on his 19th birthday and has been admitted to several drug
rehabilitation programs. [name redacted], who everyone called "[name
redacted]," was scheduled to enter another drug rehabilitation program
the day after the murder occurred.

But the mother wasn't trying to deflect blame. "We're not going to
say, 'Oh, poor [name redacted],'" she said. "This kid had more
opportunities than anyone."

She said the family isn't going to post bail and won't pay for his
legal defense. "Whatever happens is going to happen to him," she said.
"He is not going to come back to this house."

[name redacted] doesn't yet have a lawyer and no arraignment date has
been set.

[name2 redacted] said for the past three months her son had been
ingesting "bath salts" to get high. Brian Kelly, an associate
professor of sociology and anthropology at Purdue University, said
these over-the-counter chemicals-which can cause hallucinations-are
the "latest wave of a series of legal high drugs."

The night before the murder, Ms. Schmidt came to the [name redacted]'
home after 11 p.m. and watched television with mother and son. Before
going to bed that night, the mother reminded her son to take his
medication for his bipolar disorder. He told her he would take it
later because the drug caused him to go to sleep. [name2 redacted]
said that at his worst her son became paranoid and would think people
were out to get him but he had never been violent before.

"He loved Pam and he would never," she began, then stopped, fighting
back tears.

Ms. Schmidt's family in Warren, N.J., couldn't be reached for comment.
According to the Rutgers school newspaper, Ms. Schmidt expected to
graduate from the university this May with degrees in psychology and
labor studies. She intended to enroll in a master's degree program in
human resource management at Rutgers this fall.

Ms. Schmidt and [name redacted], a junior studying statistics,
interned together at Sirius XM radio in New York City last year. [name
redacted] worked on radio-personality Howard Stern's show.

Cranford Police Chief Eric Mason, who has been a cop in the town for
33 years, could count on one hand the number of homicides over the
past two decades and said Cranford is one of the safest towns in New
Jersey. He said, "Cranford has maintained itself as one of the safest
communities not only in Union County but the whole state."

Ellen Moffett, owner of Periwinkle Fine Gifts & Home in downtown
Cranford, hadn't heard the news of the murder. "Oh, how horrible," she
said, adding: "It's a very safe town. Of course you have to be
careful, anyone can come in from New York on the train, but it is a
family growth, participation-in-community and downtown place."
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D