Transcript of This Isn't Over: 8

The year is 2008. The economy has wreaked havoc on local newspapers. The lucky ones are just shrinking their workforce. Those less lucky are being shut down entirely. In a tired old office building in New Jersey, where the ceiling tiles are still yellowed from the days of reporters smoking at their desks, a journalist is packing his belongings into a cardboard box. He's taken a out. After 10 years on the job, he's going to try his hand at a new career. Except, well, some habits die hard. And so on this, his last day, the reporter slips unnoticed into the newsrooms library where print articles are archived. A few minutes later, he returns with an envelope and drops it into the box on his desk. It's a clip file, old newsprint clippings everything the paper has written in nearly two decades about the cold case murder of Cissy Stuart. Kevin, you have it here. Show me what it is.

I have the original Emily Cissy Stuart clip file from the Times of Trenton Archives.

Of course, this reporter is Kevin. This spring, he brought this worn and torn brown envelope stuffed with old clips to the recording studio. Back in '08, he didn't know if he'd ever be a reporter again or get to cover this story further. But he couldn't let this file get lost or thrown away when the building was sold. Which I did. So you physically couldn't let this case go.

That's what I see, right? No, not at all. I was going to safeguard this. I was going to keep it and make sure that anybody who needed it down the road, whether it was me or someone else, for any project on this case, even the police maybe, who knows, I'd have it.

But no one came looking for the fated brown envelope with Stuart, Emily Sissy, typed on the front. None of his old colleagues wrote about her. As it turned out, though, Kevin wasn't done with journalism or this case.

When I got back in 2015, I compiled a list of stories I want to get back into. This was at the top of that list.

Did you feel like a responsibility to Sissy Stewart?

Sure. I mean, it is one of those cases where even back then, I never got the sense that anybody really cared about this. Family I really didn't have this burning desire to keep it going. I just felt like I had left in '08. I had this file, Tony dies, and I thought, Where's it going to go? Who's going to really care about this? But I just felt like someone had to keep this going. I'm glad I did this. I'm glad I took that file. I'm Kevin Shay.

And I'm Rebecca Everett. And this is the final episode of In the Shadow of Princeton, a deep dive into the 35-year-old investigation of the murder of Sissy Stewart. A case that should be solved needs to be solved, even if Kevin is one of the only people still out there beating the drum.

This is not over. In fact, our questions to authorities seem to have spawned a new development, something I've been dying to see for years.

A new effort that could harness cutting-edge DNA technology to unearth evidence sitting dormant for decades. Decades.

But there was something else we, as reporters, hadn't done yet.

A final trip, a long shot.

A moonshot, really. One last attempt to get the man at the center of this story to talk to us.

Because just like Kevin's sticky fingers, Shay, with that clip file, we were refusing to let this case go. And so we flew across the country, New Jersey to California, to try to get an interview with Craig Stewart.

Getting face to face with this guy I had heard about for years, it was an opportunity I never thought I'd get.

And we wanted the full story. We know what Tony and the other cops thought. We wanted the Stuart family's side, Craig's side. He could be an innocent man trapped in a bizarro world where some people think he committed murder. We owed him this opportunity to say his piece. But let's go back a bit because his flying 3,000 miles across the country to find Craig Stewart definitely wasn't our first step.

Last year, after Craig didn't return our calls, I reached out to Alan Silber, the lawyer who represented him during Tony's inquiry. We had a conversation, and it seemed promising. But then I couldn't get him on the phone again.

Eventually, Alan e-mailed a statement, two sentences. Here's Kevin sharing it with me a year ago.

Which says, very simply, Dear Kevin, when the investigations were active, my client established that he was unconnected to the sad 1989 events. Therefore, my client and I politely and respectfully declined further communication on this topic. Sincerely, Alan.

That is such a small little statement. I don't want to call it weak. It's just not as forceful as I thought it would be.

Yeah, and it's almost like he jotted it off.

That of calling the killing of his grandmother, sad events of 1989.

Yeah, not a tragic event or a- That's not an event, right? It's like- murder. It was a denial. But it was also a message, Go away.

So we gave up on Craig for about a year. But this spring, as we were finishing up the podcast, we decided it was only right to try again.

As journalists, it's an ethical balance. We don't want to harass anyone, but it's only fair he knows what's being alleged and can respond.

We gave ourselves two days to try, and it wasn't until I was paying for the flights that I realized when we would be approaching Craig. April second, the 35th anniversary of Sissy Stuart's death.

Just after 07:00 AM that morning, we parked on the busy street outside the Stuart family's home. It's a three-story townhouse with a small garage in a charming tree-line neighborhood. Across the street is a beautiful park swarming with joggers and people walking labradootels.

How do you feel being here ready to go talk to him?

Kind of surreal because I never thought it'd actually be trying to find him, get him to talk to me. I thought that was the bridge too far.

We decided not to knock on his door. There were multiple units we didn't know if his family would be there. And reporters learn it's easy to ignore a knock. So we hoped to talk to him on the sidewalk as he headed out to work. And we were watching like hawks.

In movies, Stakeout It seemed cool and dramatic. In reality, it was hour after hour of nerve-wracking monotony. On one hand, you're sitting in a stuffy car, your butt falling asleep, talking about anything and everything to pass the time.

On the other hand, I was awash in adrenaline every time someone even moved on the street, worried a neighbor would call the cops on us, nervous that we might not see Craig, and equally nervous about what would happen if we did.

I felt like I was on a roller coaster, teetering on the edge, just as it's about to drop. Every time a door opened or a car pulled up, we grabbed our gear and got ready to move.

But I will say we I've been here for almost three hours, and I just want something to happen.

Yeah. I mean, if I could see him, and even if he doesn't want to talk to us or if he turns around and walks inside or something, I feel like I'd like to at least have seen him leave him a note and let him know the length we were willing to go to get a comment. And then it happened.

We had parked across the road to avoid a street sweeper. A bit before 10:30 AM, a car with tinted windows pulled up, an Uber. A minute later, a man with shaggy gray hair came down his front steps, wearing shorts in a hoodie with a backpack slung over his shoulder.

Is that Craig?

Wait, I'm not sure that's him. Kevin was out of the car like a shot, but I hesitated. By the time the whizzing traffic cleared and we crossed the street, Craig was already in his Uber.

It pulled away. We crossed back to our car in a jittery haze of nerves and disappointment.

Bummer. My heart is pounding. I'm sorry, man. That was so my fault. No, that's okay.

He got in the car so quick. I was like, If I got over there, I'd be the weird guy banging on an Uber's door.

Man. Now I'm twice as nervous.

I'm actually not. I'm a little less nervous now. Really? He's there. We didn't know if he was just going to the gym for an hour, or did he go to work? Would he be gone all day? I was thinking this was our chance to take a break, get an early lunch, stretch our legs. But Rebecca didn't want to go anywhere.

I just felt like I could not risk blowing another chance before we had to fly home. We stuck to the stakeout, waited for him to come home. Talking about cheese Danish's, old movies, Bob Dylan records. Seriously, we were in that car for a long time.

And there were lots of false alarms Yeah, Donald Sutherland is super stoned, and he's like, Oh, that might be someone. Who's that? Did they come?

Actually, I think that's one house over.

And we sat some more.

It's 6:00 PM now, which means we've been here. Is it possible? 11 hours? 11 hours. With a few bathroom breaks and one sandwich and some digestives. But with every passing moment, I literally just become more determined to get this done today. Let's just pull up, man.

Come on. We decided to stay until 07:00 PM. That would be a full 12 hours, and then it would start to get dark.

But at 6:55-They track her down, and she lives in a... Oh, it's him. Where is he?

Coming on the street.

Really? Yeah. We got to go quick.

Before I even spoke, I saw his eyes, and he saw mine. Now that moment felt like half a win. But then I said his name as we closed the distance, and he didn't seem wary of us at all, almost like he assumed we were neighbors or something.

Until we met on the sidewalk right in front of his place and said why we were there. You'll have to forgive the quality of the recording. It's bad.

Kevin and Rebecca, we're from New Jersey. We're doing the podcast on Emily, the murder.

And I am recording, just so you know. Do you want to talk to us if we don't record?

I came from New Jersey. We really wanted to get you in person.

But he was already up the steps and heading inside, and we got the message.

It was a resounding no. We hopped back in our car and took off, rehashing every second of what just happened. Then I said, We're from New Jersey. We're doing the podcast. I didn't know what to say, and I on Emily, and his face just dropped. He was like, No, no.

He just walked away. Do you feel like that's what made him? Yes. Okay. Because I thought it was the recording thing.

No, I think that...

I honestly wasn't looking at his face because I looking down to make sure I was recording.

He didn't seem to completely upset.

Yeah, or flustered or anything. I just felt like he still owned the moment. I was just like, Nope, I'm going up my stairs and I'm going to go now.

But we got him.

Literally five minutes short of 12 hours. Wow. Our nerves make us sound excited, but really, I was disappointed. I didn't fly across the country to have a few seconds of dramatic tape. I wanted to hear what Craig had to say. Was his alibi legit? What did he think about how police treated him and his family and his friends? I wanted this podcast to include his story in his own words.

But the only word we got from Craig Stewart was no.

The next day from the hotel, I emailed a list of specific questions to his lawyer.

But we never got a response.

Or maybe more accurately, silence was the response.

I said to Roger, The last thing you are, fair and balanced. That should have been my slogan. When the Fox News channel first went on the air, it promised to change television. Few broadcasts take any chances these days, and most are very politically correct.

Well, we're going to be different.

It's going to be kick-ass, and I want to be part I'm Josh Levine.

In this season of slow burn, we'll look at the moment in the early 2000s when Fox News became a political and cultural force.

I'm okay with wearing an American flag, and if you're not, I think you need to examine who you are. You'll hear from Fox Insiders, many who've never spoken out before.

I was not told about that beforehand for good reason.

I wouldn't have gone along with it.

You'll hear from the activists and comedians who tried to stop it. He said, You're being sued by Fox. I went, Really? That's fabulous. Slow burn, Season 10, The Rise of Fox News.

Out now, wherever you listen. Angela Anifery never met Cissy Stuart. He came to Princeton a month after her death to clerk at a law office just down the street from her home.

But she isn't just some cold case to him, not some sepia-toned Princeton lore. Angela is now the Mercer County prosecutor, and Cissy is a woman he's learned a lot about from reading interviews and other case material over the years. Like him, she enjoyed jawing away with anyone. Anyone who knocked on her door would get an invite inside to talk, stranger or not.

Very trusting, very caring, great conversationalist, very smart woman, very dedicated to the community.

When we sat down to interview Angelo in his office last year, it was clear he's another person who is still trying to keep this case alive.

And he was pretty unequivocal about some things. He's satisfied with the investigation of Jéral Jafar, the suspected serial stapper whose DNA didn't match.

And we were also curious to get his thoughts on Sissy's female neighbor, especially after nick Sutter told us. When police would encounter her in a mental health episode, she would often bring up the Stuart case.

But Angela was satisfied with her alibi.

So it seemed to have covered that time period.

I was sitting in this interview thinking, Wow, this prosecutor is surprisingly cool about talking particulars in this case. But I later realized that was only when it came to the people he feels have been eliminated. When he was talking about other theories of the case, the ones that haven't been settled in in his mind. He was a lot more vague.

If this were a closed case, it would be different. We could go into this a lot more in-depth.

I've known Angelo for years. This is what he does, what he's good at as a spokesman for his office. He dances right up to the edge, saying just enough that you could maybe suss out what he's thinking.

The alibis from some of the people have been called into question, and there seem to be some holes in them. Without getting into specifics, it does seem like some of the people were not being completely truthful.

Do you mean the family or do you just mean people?

I'd rather keep it people.

He did make some statements about the issues he still sees, including a familial connection that should be explored.

We've been living in the past so much in our reporting over these episodes, but some of these theories and questions we've discussed, they're not all just in the past. When we sat down with Angelo, deciphering his statements, it sounded to us like he still shares some of the concerns that those early investigators recalled.

There were, might My view is that there were issues with some of the statements from the family members that I think given new interview and interrogation techniques, I think the interviews would have been different today.

When I heard this, I'm thinking, does he mean Craig? Since authorities didn't go hard at him for years, or maybe he meant Jeb. Here's what Angelo said next.

I think there were some questions. With the veracity of some of the alibis. I also think that there was some, based on my reading, that there were some, I don't want to use the term half-truths, but I think they were trying to cooperate but not going all the It sounds like Angelo thinks significant things were being held back and that the family, though he wouldn't be more specific about who in the family, wasn't being completely truthful.

Now, it is significant to hear this from him But we've seen cops go down that road before and hit a dead end. It is still very possible that the person who killed Sissy is not a family member, or Jéral Jafar, or the other neighbor. After all this, I still left Angelo's office last year thinking the case is stuck and might never be solved.

But then something changed.

We went back to talk to Angelo again this March.

He had good news about this case for the first time in years.

Hoping to talk to you about what's going on with the case now because we heard there's been some developments over the last year.

There has been.

This development, shortly after we met with Angelo last year to ask our questions, his office pitched this case to a new cold case network run by the State Attorney General's office, and it worked. They're going to take a new look.

We did present this case to them, along with what we felt were some avenues that could be explored.

Can you share those avenues?

We think that there was a familial connection that was never fully developed or explored. And although memories may have fated in time, there were also some of the alibi evidence that was initially came out that I think needs to be re-explored.

This was great to hear that the case is getting reopened, so to speak. And I don't think it's crazy to hope that This time could be different because this Cold Case Task Force has been closing cases.

Right. They've solved two cases over the last year, both brought to them by Angelo's office.

The 1984 murder of a teenage girl by a serial rapist and the 2008 beating death of a 47-year-old man.

It's run by the state, but when the task force picks up a case, one of Angelo's detectives gets assigned to it, too.

For the Stuart case, Angelo expects they'll go and re-interview some witnesses to see if they can come up with a new lead. Maybe get the full truth for the first time.

But the biggest thing that's changed since the last time this case was examined?

Dna technology.

But the technologies evolve every day, and they can utilize smaller and smaller samples, and that looks like what can happen here.

It's private labs and scientists that are doing the most advanced work here, way beyond government labs.

This testing, while incredible, is also incredibly expensive. In a lot of ways, it would have absolutely been cost-prohibitive for us to do, absent a grant.

But the state cold case unit has federal grant funding. They can do this.

This was incredible to hear. But what are the chances new testing could lead to an arrest?

Right, because there's something nagging here. We know the DNA they found before, it didn't match anyone they compared it to. Not Craig, Jeb, Sheila, or Robert.

And even hypothetically, if some new DNA found does match someone known to Sissy, sure. It would help make a case against them.

But nick Sutter said you couldn't prosecute with just that. There are so many plausible innocent explanations for it.

Yeah, for new DNA to lead to an arrest in this case, it would probably have to to a total stranger.

And that is still a real possibility.

Rebecca, you had another hope when you heard about this.

I immediately thought of genetic genealogy. It feels like today this is the slam dunk that solves cold cases that seemed hopeless before, like the Golden State killer.

This is where they put the DNA profile in two genetic databases, get a list of often distant relatives, and then use public records to build out a family tree. Then they work back down to identify a potential lead, the source for the DNA.

The DNA they have from 2003 is a mixed profile. Remember, that means some of Sissy's DNA is in there along with someone else's.

Will this type of sample work?

Maybe right now is not the best time.

This is Karen Binder, Assistant Director of Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Geniology Center. She knows a lot about what what works and what doesn't from assisting police on cold cases and working with labs.

With some of the advances in DNA testing that we're having, you can work on very small samples, but it's not great with mixtures. I would say, wait a few years and then see if it's a little bit better because do you want to squander the last of what you have on a DNA test that might not work? It seems there are two ways this could still help crack the case. First, they wait for the technology to improve, or they can try to find a new, better DNA sample from that crime scene evidence. We talked to Danny Helwig, a director at one of these labs Intermountain Forensics. He said his lab has a powerful new tool called the MVAC that can pull a huge amount of DNA from some evidence. It's like one of those wetbacks you rent from Lowe's, except for forensic scientists.

He said it's not ideal for clothing. It's pretty much a bit of a Halle Mary way, but in some cases, it's the only thing left. And while it may be a Halle Mary, we're not the only ones who are optimistic. When we first talked to the Princeton Police Chief, John Bukeri, last year, he didn't have a detective assigned to the Steward investigation, but now he's enthusiastic about the Cold Case Task Force digging in. In the hopes of finding that piece of evidence that can bring the case to a successful conclusion.

We did dozens of interviews in this case, and we asked most of our law enforcement sources if they thought this case was solvable. Most said, yes, DNA might unlock it. But many mentioned a different hope, that someone's tongue might be loosened by time.

I think Ted Bertuccio, the retired assistant prosecutor, put it best.

It's tough to commit a crime like was committed here.

If you're not a sociopath and keep your mouth shut for the rest of your life, that would be a rare person who could do that.

These stories, a lot of the ones from 1989, have this photo of Sissy Stuart in them that I just think of as iconic. I don't know if you can find one in there.

When Rebecca and I were looking through the Sissy Stuart clip file in the studio, it wasn't hard to find this photo. It ran with most articles about her death. This is a story. Oh, this is one year later, Stuart murder puzzles police. On the jump, there's the picture She's got a striped dress.

Looks like black and white striped dress. Maybe pearls, but a white necklace and a sun hat.

I was going to say that's going to be a family party or church.

It feels like Easter or something like that.

Oh, yeah. People are playing croquet next to the party or something.

Someone has their hand on her shoulder. Someone is taking it like it's cropped from a group shot. Yeah, exactly. She's smiling, but it's not like a grin.

This was all I had for a long time as a picture of Cissy Stuart, a cropped photo in black and white. But after reporting on this, living it for so long, talking with so many people, she's become much more three three-dimensional to me. The mystery, the thrill of the pursuit was always there, but it feels more tragic to me now.

As crime reporters, we're bumping up against tragedy a lot, but you're always keeping your distance, too. Standing behind the police tape, covering the funeral from the back row, watching a cop break down on the witness stand because of what he's seen, then compartmentalizing all of the horrible things so you can move on to the next story.

But sometimes letting it feel real is part of the story. It is in this case.

Kevin and I went to Rocky Hills Cemetery, about five miles from downtown Princeton, where Sissy Stuart was buried in a private family ceremony 35 years ago.

There's actually three from the family.

Oh, this is them?

Yeah. Here she is, Emily Coenhoven Stuart.

Born New Brunswick, New Jersey. July first, 1914. Died Princeton, New Jersey. April second, 1989.

Yeah. Cissy was buried in a plot with her sister and parents. On the day we visited, a few headstones were overwhelmed by a pink rosebush, sprawling out in all directions. Rebecca wondered if it was an Emily rose, a hybrid Cissy reared and named for herself.

I talked to a neighbor, and he said that his daughter's name was also Emily, and he remembered Cissy Stuart giving her a rose and being like, It's an Emily rose.

Really?

Okay. Yeah. So I wonder if these rose bushes that are all over these gravestones are the Emily rose. Cissy Stuart could have planted this, theoretically, right? This is her parents' gravestone.

Oh, wow.

I never thought about that. Right. Or maybe after Cissy died, her family added an Emily rose here. Part of me wanted to come back with some clippers, prune this rose into a more respectable shape. But really, it's a perfect tribute to Sissy, striking and irrepressible.

It didn't take any guff from anybody.

Yeah, didn't suffer schools.

Yeah, and then had friends over and would have a beer or a Bloody Mary. She both.

Which I love.

She wouldn't be like, Okay, let's have tea. Right.

This It's a picture of this woman with the striped dress and the brimmed hat. You just picture a tea drinking, playing bridge. Correct. Then it was actually... She was actually a cool lady that I would have a beer with, probably. It just was terrible that it was cut short the way it was. Absolutely. But that is nicer to think about that she did have a lot of good life before.

We return to the cemetery this spring, just as we were finishing production on this podcast.

Things looked the same, the roses standing out as a spirited departure from the quiet, well-groomed hillside. But things felt different to me. We'd learned so much more, gone down so many rabbit holes over the year. Do we really feel any closer to knowing what happened to Sissy? How does it feel now that we're here? Like, Do you feel like you can stand here in front of Sissy Stuart's grave and tell her that you did everything you could?

Yeah, definitely. I'm satisfied that we dug into this and punched into this harder than I ever thought I would. I just hope something comes from it. It could alter everything, or it could alter nothing. I mean, I don't think it should ever be forgotten. I'm not going to forget about it ever. And I'm definitely not done with it.

In reporting this project, I wanted to give you a full picture of who Cissy Stuart was. But I realized in trying to understand Cissy, I was never going to get as close as I wanted. She'd stay frozen as the woman in the striped dress and the hat. All I collected were vignettes, glimpses back in time. From Charles' documentary, a story about a teenage Cissy mischievously moving the swimsuits of skinny-dipping friends just out of reach. Or a moment when she just had her hair done. So to go out in the snow, she outfitted a box with a saran wrap window and wore it on her head as she shoveled. There's Cissy, sick of looking at the church fence that needed painting, just tackling the job herself. She was the warm, outgoing, fun-loving neighbor, but she was also the maven of Mercer Street, quick-tongued and eagle-eyed and ready with advice, whether you wanted it or not.

She would always look over my shoulder when she saw I was trying to do some gardening around the house, and she was a wonderful gardener.

Cissy was a formidable woman who left an impression on people, like Jeremiah Ford III from the first episode. Cissy He's hero because he bought a rooming house a few doors down and fixed it up in the '60s.

I remember there was one time when I was... I'd gone out and bought some pack of Sandra to put in my front yard, and she came and said, Yo, Jerry, you shouldn't have bought that. You can take old pack of sand or and cut it in two and replant it. She showed me how to do that and all that stuff. She was a lot of fun.

She left her impression on the girls who grew up nearby and saw Cissy as someone to admire. Like Sarah Fuller, you'll remember she talked to us about Cissy as her parrot whistled in the background. I just knew she was a force to be reckoned with. She was more mouthy than most women were at that time. She was definitely quirky and just different times. Being a kid, I respected that. I thought, Well, this is something different. As a 19-year-old, Cécile Hitchcock marveled at her neighbor's independence. The impression Cécile left was as a strong moral person, but also with a hard edge, a toughness. She had a sign at the end of her road down by the garage. Don't you dare use my driveway. Cissy even left a mark on Curtis Vanchoff, the detective who'd collected DNA samples.

I visited her grave because of the case, and a friend of mine lived out there, and I went by there once or twice just to go by there.

This cop who barely worked this case, and by the way, didn't even believe Tony Federico's theory, cared enough to go visit at Cissy's grave.

God rest her soul, poor thing.

And she left an impression on me. I'd try to be like this, to take no guff, to be fearless, to stand up for what's important, and I'm not sure I'm as good at it as Cissy was. I also can't help but think about how she was taken much too soon. Yes, she lived a fine life into her '70s, But she was still robbed of so much. My mother was 10 years younger than Cissy when she died. But I can tell you that every family dinner, every trip, every grandkids' school play, I am acutely aware of what she's missing out on and the unfairness of it. Cissy should have gotten to meet her namesake granddaughter, had so many more bloody merry lunches and spirited debates with her sisters, and she would have been grousing with the best of them as the neighborhood changed and the university expanded. And there was no justice to ease the unfairness of it. The case remains unsolved. And all I can do is hope that bringing this into the light might move this forward somehow. I don't want her to be just another cold case, another person who never gets justice, another headstone in a sea of headstones.

I can't leave her story lying there in the shadows of Princeton.

In the Shadow of Princeton is a production of N. J. Advanced Media. Reporting is by me and Rebecca Everett. Rebecca wrote and produced the podcast. Christopher Kelly and Jeff Roberts are executive producers.

Our sound engineer and composer is Blake Maples. James Shapiro is our associate audio engineer.

Our website was designed by Allah Salim.

Special thanks to all our sources who agreed to talk to us. You can visit theprinstonmurder. Com for more about the story, including photos and other extras. You can email us at inbox@theprinstonmurder. Com.

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