Police search pit for teen’s body

Bordentown Township girl disappeared in 1979.

By: William Wichert
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — The 26-year-old case of a missing township teenager is being unearthed as state police investigators search a Hamilton Township mud pit for her body.
   The investigators and volunteers from a Hackensack contractor and an engineers union spent last week digging through a pit behind a wastewater treatment plant near Route 206 for the body of Karen Zendrosky, a 16-year-old who disappeared after leaving a Hamilton bowling alley in October 1979.
   The investigators and workers from J. Fletcher Creamer & Sons of Hackensack and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 825, found some evidence in the pit, but it is too early to say if they’re connected to Ms. Zendrosky’s disappearance, said Lt. Kevin Rehmann.
   "We haven’t found a body. I’ll tell you that," said Lt. Rehmann, noting the state police investigation led to this site many years ago. "We suspect she’s been in that site for many years. Technology has just enabled us to do these searches."
   Lt. Rehmann said investigators first searched this pit in 2003 with ground-penetrating radar and identified three spots where human remains may be found, but the state police was unable to probe deeper due to a lack of funding and manpower. Each of spots is at least 6 feet deep and costs about $250,000 to excavate, he said.
   Ms. Zendrosky is identified as a missing person, but evidence from the pit and other potential leads could turn her case into a homicide, said Lt. Rehmann.
   "We believe people responsible for her disappearance are still around," he said. "We believe there’s someone out there who knows what happened to this girl, and it’s time for them to come forward."