Man Gets Life In Prison For Raping, Killing Sayreville Teen Girl In 1999

SAYREVILLE, NJ — Bruce Cymanski, 52, was sentenced Monday to life in prison for the kidnapping, sex assault (rape) and murder of a 17-year-old Sayreville girl in 1999.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Joseph Paone sentenced Cymanski to life in prison with a 30-year parole ineligibility period for the first-degree murder of Nancy Noga.

On January 7, 1999, Noga, who was then a senior at Sayreville War Memorial High School, was reported missing after she did not return home from her part-time job after school at a local clothing store in Old Bridge, the Rag Shop. Five days later, on January 12, 1999, at approximately 8:57 a.m., her body was discovered in a wooded area behind a strip mall on Ernston Road. She was lying face down in the woods, buried under about five inches of snow. An autopsy determined Noga died from blunt-force trauma after being struck with a blunt object.

For more than two decades, the case remained open and active as investigators continued to investigate Noga’s death. As with all homicides, the Middlesex County Prosecutor never closed the case. Law enforcement from the Sayreville Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office were determined to bring justice to the Noga family.

Cymanski was arrested in 2021, while he was living in Barnegat in Ocean County. The state forensic lab preserved semen found on Noga’s body and her underwear, and in 2021 it matched to Cymanski due to the use of forensic DNA genealogy, which uses family trees to identify unknown DNA, NJ.com reported.

Prosecutors say Cymanski lured the teen girl to come talk to him, then raped her and hit her in the head. They say he left her in the freezing cold woods to die. Cymanski used to live in South Amboy and Old Bridge. He was 26 and married at the time he raped and killed the teen.

His murder trial began October 1, 2024. Assistant Prosecutors Katie Magee, Alexander Battey and Nicolette Spallanzani presented evidence and testimony to a jury. After a three-week trial, Cymanski was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first degree aggravated sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping, and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Cymanski says he is innocent.

"I know they are looking for closure and I don't have answers to give them. I can't give answers for something I don't know. I want them to know that regardless of me going to prison or not going to prison doesn't mean it's over,” he told the judge before his sentencing, according to the Home News Tribune. “I'm still going to be investigating this case myself from behind bars if I have to ... I know there is a murderer out there. All I want people to know is I didn't commit this crime. I'm taking the punishment for it, but I didn't commit it."

On Monday, Cymanski was also sentenced to 20 years for first-degree kidnapping, to be served consecutively to the murder charge, 15 years for aggravated sex assault and two concurrent sentences for felony murder and weapons offenses.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone thanked the law enforcement officers, both active and retired, from the Sayreville Police Department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, NJ State Police Office of Forensic Sciences, and the Barnegat Police Department for their dogged commitment to this investigation and prosecution, which resulted in the conviction of Cymanski.