Charges Dropped In Bergen Woman’s Beating Death

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ – Murder and sexual assault charges against a Passaic County man were dropped after a judge refused to let his DNA be entered as evidence in court.

On Monday, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said it dismissed the case against Rafael Camey, who was charged in the death of Karen Splettstoesser, a 50-year-old Rutherford woman found in September 2013 on a riverbank behind a ShopRite supermarket in Passaic.

However, Camey, a Guatemalan national is expected to be deported following the decision to drop charges against him, the Bergen Record reports. He’d been detained for more than five years as the case progressed, the report said.

According to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, authorities were initially led to Camey after a friend of the victim said they spotted him with Splettstoesser the night before her brutally beaten body was found. Camey consented to a buccal swab which authorities said revealed his DNA was on the victim and he was then charged with murder, aggravated sexual assault and felony murder.

During preparation for trial, the defense filed a motion to suppress the buccal swab, which was granted by Judge Marilyn Clark. The judge ruled that Camey’s constitutional rights were violated and the evidence could not be used at trial, according to the prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors appealed the ruling to the Appellate Division, which affirmed Clark’s decision.

According to the Record, the court criticized the local police department’s “little use of legal process” and ”shocking” failure to interview Camey’s roommates or co-workers about his whereabouts that night — or get a warrant to check the home of Splettstoesser’s husband, who had been arrested for an alleged act of domestic violence against her.

Valdes said, “The Supreme Court affirmed the suppression of the buccal swab, however remanded back to the Superior Court a new application by the State to compel a new buccal swab. This remand was heard by Judge Mohammed who denied the State’s motion based on the improper conduct of the police in obtaining the original sample.”

“With all critical evidence suppressed, the state cannot sustain its burden of proof with respect to each element of each offense, thus a dismissal is required,” Valdes said.