The Holy Grail of NJ Cold Cases (strongest person I know)

www.nytimes.com/1974/08/16/archives/police-pursue-all-leads-in-the-murders-of-2-girls-prosecutor-in.html

www.northjersey.com/story/news/2016/08/07/decades-later-bergen-county-teens-slayings-remain-unsolved-video/92935182/

prettydeathseller.com/2019/07/06/45-years-without-arrest-in-new-jersey-double-murder-who-killed-mary-ann-pryor-and-lorraine-kelly/


The Holy Grail of Cold Cases in New Jersey 


I guess when you're too close to something you don't realize how big it actually is.

My father married his second wife Nancy prior in 1992. I was 14.
Her mother Wanda Prior passed in 95 but I remember two things.
She always had a gallon of Dewers within arms length & whenever we saw her Nancy would always apologize in advance for anything she might say because she was drunk.
Jake Prior was her father.  I knew him well. He actually lived with them from 02 to 05.
Never said anything to anyone. If you spoke to him he was short and polite. 
We watched baseball and wrestling together. 
He passed away suddenly April 10th 2005.
My father passed from a diabetic coma April 25 2005.
She lost her dad & husband the same month.


I didn't find out about what happened until I was Maybe 17.
We were on the beach in seaside hights (before the Jersey shore show) and she kept playing this song 






Finally I asked about it and she said "It was my sister's favorite song. She passed away."
Later that night my dad told me the story.

The only time we ever talked about it was the 45 year when she was interviewed for a popular cold case show local to New York. 

I'd look into it from time to time. She didn't even tell me when the monster finally confessed. That how little she spoke about it.

I just googled maryann prior from time to time but this time the first result was 

www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/richard-cottingham-torso-killer-mary-ann-pryor-lorraine-marie-kelly-new-jersey-cold-case-murders/


I called her immediately. I was so excited but about 30 seconds in I could tell it just wasn't something to be excited about.
She didn't want to talk about told her I was happy for her and we haven't spoken about it since.

Shes the strongest person I know.

www.nj.com/hudson/2009/10/post_28.html


EDIT

I wanted to add one thing. 
As happy as I am that she got her closure it's a double edged sword.
The monster has been confessing to murders here and there since 2019.
5 murders IIRC thanks to the tireless work of Detective Anzilotti but it meant scumbag was all over the news and even worse there was an A&E special with actual footage of the fucking interrogation where the monster is smug as fuck.

It's kinda made me think twice about all these true crime shows I enjoy.