The crime scene lies along a lonely stretch of road in rural Upper Deerfield Township in New Jersey: The 100 block of Rosenhayn Avenue. Throughout most of the day, New Jersey State Troopers combed through the property looking for evidence which may shed light on the murder of 81-year-old Hilja Jarve.
"I have no reason to believe that it was anything other than a crime of opportunity," Mati Jarve, the victim's son, told Action News.
Her relatives say she lived here with her 37-year-old nephew Todd Oja whom she adopted as a baby when his mother died at childbirth. Family members say he left the house Tuesday afternoon about 1:30 to visit his uncle. Upon returning to the home about 4:30 that same afternoon, he found her lying in a pool of blood. Jarve had been shot once in the head with a .22-caliber bullet.
"She wouldn't hurt a flea," the victim's daughter-in-law Connie Jarve said, "She was about 85 pounds and 81 years old and minded her own business. Was a good neighbor. It's just unspeakable."
Jarve, an immigrant from Estonia who fled here to escape the Nazis during WW II, had lived in southern New Jersey for most of her life. She retired after working more than 20 years at the Seabrook Farms food processing factory while at the same time raising a son & daughter as well as her nephew Todd. Her family is at a loss as to who would commit such a crime.
They say the only people who they knew had contact with her recently were 2 relatives and two weeks ago a man tended to her lawn.
So far, police have no suspects. Although family members say the house was in a bit of disarray they have not been able to determine if anything was taken. Family members are expected to enter the home with detectives Thursday to answer that question, in the hope it will help establish a motive.
