Mourners made their way to St. Rose of Lima Church in Freehold Borough on the morning of Jan. 31 to remember the life of and pay their respects to Stephanie Nicole Parze.
A casket bearing the young woman’s body was carried into the church by pallbearers at 9:30 a.m. as her family members and others arriving for the service stood silently in front of the church’s Randolph Street entrance.
Mourners continued to arrive at the church in anticipation of the 10 a.m. funeral liturgy.
Parze, 25, had not been seen since Oct. 30. She died on or about Oct. 31, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni. Her remains were found off Route 9 south near Old Mill Road in Old Bridge on Jan. 26.
Gramiccioni said the cause of Parze’s death was not determined, but he said a former boyfriend who had been identified as a person of interest in her disappearance was found to be responsible for her death. That 29-year-old man died by suicide on Nov. 22.
According to an obituary from the Freeman Funeral Home, Freehold Borough, Stephanie was born in Freehold Township and resided there all her life. She worked as a nanny.
Stephanie is survived by her parents, Edward and Sharlene; her sisters, Brianna, Karissa and Hailey; her nephew, Mason; and her dog, Jasmine.
Entombment at the St. Rose of Lima Cemetery Mausoleum, Freehold Township, followed the funeral liturgy at St. Rose of Lima Church.
For victims of domestic violence, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to 180 Turning Lives Around Inc., 1 Bethany Road, Building 3, Suite 42, Hazlet, NJ 07730.