saturday, march 3, 2012 mia nichols can finally rest in …media.nj.com/cumberland_impact/other/the...
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■ 2 DWI arrests in Bridgeton. Page A-3 .
■ Man urinates in changing room. Page A-3.
■ U.D. Firefighter awards. Page A-10.
Annie’s Mailbox . . . . . . . B-7 BEN Column. . . A-3 Classified. . . . . . B-8 Comics . . . . . . . . B-6
Community . . . . A-3 Crossword . . . . . B-5 Doctor K . . . . . . B-7 Horoscope . . . . . B-7 Obituaries . . . . . A-6
Police Blotter . . A-3 Religion . . . . . . . A-7Sports . . . . . . . . B-1 Television. . . . . . B-5 Viewpoint . . . . . A-4
Early thunderstorms, High 60Details, Page A-2
WEATHERINSIDE TODAYINDEX
Vol. 265, No. 28
For Home Delivery Customer Service, Please Call 1-888-686-0060
‘Cash Mob’ hits Bridgeton, Page A-5.
nj.com/cumberland SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 75¢
Webb found guilty in 2008 murder
MIA NICHOLS
Mia Nichols can finally rest in peace
Abbott wants school elections in November
Staff photo by Jim Cook Jr.
Students at Rieck Avenue School pledge to the reading oath Friday morning during an assembly celebrating Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday. More photos on Page A-10.
A pledge to Read
Have you seen Jorge L. Gonzalez?
Photos special to The News
Police released these images of Jorge L. Gonzalez this week in an effort to locate the suspect.
Vineland police continue search for suspect in May homicide
Rieck Ave. School celebrates Seuss’ birthday
• What happens to your Facebook page when you die? Given the all-encompassing nature of social media and its growing place in our lives, that question is gaining much more attention these days as we try to fi nd the best way to memorialize loved ones online.
• Gov. Chris Christie wants to keep those charged with violent crimes behind bars while they await trial if those defendants have a history of violent behavior. Christie is pursuing a constitutional amendment to make this possible. We talk to local law enforcement offi cials about what this could mean for Cumberland County.
• The New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team has been established statewide to combat critters and plants intruding on the Garden State.
• The Cat in the Hat pays a visit to Bridgeton’s Buckshutem Road School.
You’ll fi nd your TV book, comics, Parade magazine and plenty of ads from your favorite stores. Start your morning with South Jersey’s Sunday news leader.
MIKE ABBOTT
Needs 816 signatures
By Phillip [email protected]
The family of Mia Nichols, a locally born and raised mother of three who was slain by her boyfriend in October 2008, can finally rest easy, knowing that her killer has been brought to justice.
Tyrone Webb Jr. was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Baltimore, Md., court, and is awaiting an April 15 sentencing, which could land him life in prison.
A Bridgeton native, and long-time resi-dent of Vineland, Nichols moved to Balti-more in the 1990s, following a job transfer, and settled down to build a life for herself and her children.
She then met Webb a year or so before her murder, and started what her family called a “stormy” relationship.
When she discovered that Webb had been cheating on her with another woman,
and that the two were expecting a child, she decided it was time to leave.
“She was ending the relationship, and he wasn’t going to let that happen,” said Linda Hunter-Feeney, Mia’s maternal aunt, who sat down to speak about the ordeals the family has been through over the past four years.
Mia Nichols was last seen leaving her job as an assistant administrator for Vol-unteers of America late in the afternoon on Oct. 28, 2008.
Webb reported her missing that after-noon, saying that she had left for work in the morning and never returned home, but her family suspected right away that Webb was involved in her disappearance.
“As soon as we found out she was miss-ing we all thought he had something to do with it,” said Hunter-Feeney.
“It was very unusual and very much out of character for Mia. She was a respon-
sible woman; she never missed time fromher job and she never would have left herchildren.”
Webb’s actions following Mia’s report-ed disappearance also stoked suspicionsamong her family and friends.
“After she went missing we all wentdown to Baltimore and organized a candle-light vigil at her neighborhood church andhanded out fliers trying to get informa-tion from anyone who may have seen her,”Hunter-Feeney explained. “Not one timedid he ever show up to help us find her.”
Her skeletal remains were discoverednearly a year later in a wooded area in theBaltimore suburb of Windsor Mill. Policeidentified the body using dental recordsand said that the victim had been shottwice in the head. At the time of her deathMia was only 38 years old.
The discovery of Mia’s remains led to
(See GUILTY, Page A-5)
By Jim Cook [email protected]
MILLVILLE — In the words of Friday’s birthday boy: “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.”
And that’s exactly what hap-pened at the Rieck Avenue School last Friday, and Dr. Seuss’ 108th
birthday was celebrated with a fanfare of reading during a special assembly.
“(Dr. Seuss) knew that reading was important,” Principal Brian Robinson told more than 100 stu-dents at the assembly. “That’s why we’re working so hard to teach reading this year.”
Robinson added that the year’s theme was poetry, which is how
Dr. Seuss’ books read. And in the theme of Dr. Seuss, many students wrote their own poetry that they stood up in front of their teachers, parents and peers, and read.
Some of the students’ poetry list-ed single imaginative adjectives to describe how they feel about read-ing Dr. Seuss, others writing (and reciting) their poems in full verse.
(See PLEDGE, Page A-10)
By Lauren T. [email protected]
BRIDGETON — The resident-led effort to get Bridgeton’s school elections moved to coincide with the general election has shifted gears but is far from dead.
Resident Mike Abbott is now working to put the decision before the city’s voters on this November’s ballot, and he has until Aug. 17 to collect 816 sig-natures in support of a voter referendum.
“My pitch is straightfor-ward — I want to try to save taxpayers the burden of over $40,000,” Abbott said. “We are not giving up.”
Abbott, working with his
wife, Dorothy, and one other volunteer, had already col-lected more than 200 sig-natures by Friday — less than a week after printing the first petition.(See ELECTIONS, Page A-10)
By Stephen [email protected]
VINELAND — Police released new photographs of the man they say shot and killed another man who was sitting in a car outside of a liquor store in May.
Jorge L. Gonzalez, 19, is charged with homicide and three counts of attempted homicide for the shoot-ing that left Jason Candelaria dead with a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Gonzalez aka Junito or Nito Cha-makito, with a last known address of
1887 North Delsea Drive, Lot 64, has not been seen since the shooting.
The pictures police released on Friday show that Gonzalez has a distinctive tattoo on his right fore-arm that includes several stars. He also
(See WANTED, Page A-5)