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Author Topic: Geetha Angara - Chemist found dead on Feb. 9, 2005  (Read 13852 times)
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2NJSons_Mom
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« on: September 21, 2006, 05:52:13 PM »

http://tinyurl.com/fltac
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« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2006, 08:59:31 PM »

How sad, NJ MOM try and keep us updated if you hear any new news...
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« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2006, 11:37:53 PM »

Quote from: "mrs. red"
How sad, NJ MOM try and keep us updated if you hear any new news...


I will mrs. red, if anything comes up in the news...it bothers me extremely that someone got away with this...
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« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2007, 11:21:41 AM »

Latest news on this case...if you use the link to the article, there is another link to photos & history:

http://tinyurl.com/yq8jqx

NORTH PASSAIC  
N.J. joins probe of chemist's death      

Friday, February 2, 2007

By DOUGLASS CROUSE and MITCHEL MADDUX
STAFF WRITERS

 

 Cold case files: Background, photos

Top state investigators say they'll take a crack at solving the killing of Geetha Angara, a chemist found drowned in a Passaic County water treatment tank two years ago.

 
The case has confounded Passaic County authorities, who sought help from the state Attorney General's Office following a drive for more investigative resources by legislators and Angara's relatives.

On Thursday, the agency confirmed it is joining the investigation.

"We are looking into the case," said office spokesman David Wald. "It is an open investigation and therefore I can't comment in any detail about it."

Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano said he wrote to the agency over the summer, saying his detectives had gone as far as they could and inviting a fresh review of the case.

He said a reporter's call Thursday was the first he'd heard of the agency's heightened role, and the only time he could recall that the state has stepped into a criminal case in Passaic County.

His own office, he said, has effectively halted its Angara probe.

"Other than very sporadic review as time permits, we haven't really done anything further," he said.

Angara, 43, was in a basement corridor in the Passaic Valley Water Commission in Totowa on Feb. 8, 2005, when, authorities say, a still-unidentified co-worker choked her, then pushed her through an opening in the floor and into a water tank below. The mother of three from Holmdel drowned and was found the next day.

The Prosecutor's Office began investigating the death as a homicide after five state medical examiners concluded that "deep muscle injuries" around Angara's neck arose from an assault, said John Latoracca, chief assistant prosecutor for Passaic County. They also found that she was unconscious when she fell into the water.

While many employees -- and privately, some investigators -- believe the death could have been an accident, Avigliano and the state continue to treat it as a slaying.

"I believed it was a homicide from Day One," the prosecutor said. "Are there other people here who think it could be otherwise? Yes, and they've thought that way from the start."

Wald assessed the case as "a homicide investigation."

Angara's husband, Jaya, also rejects suggestions that his wife somehow died in an accidental fall.

"It is an insult to Geetha," he said.

Avigliano said Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso picked up a copy of the case file -- including video-recorded interviews with employees -- soon after he sent his letter. State investigators have been in touch with Angara's family, said an official familiar with the case.

Jaya Angara declined to give details on those talks.

Local authorities routinely have the option to request assistance from the state Attorney General's Office. Local detectives often rely on specialized investigative units within the agency's state police division and turn to its sophisticated crime laboratories for help in analyzing evidence.

In cases such as the Angara investigation, the request for state resources is left to the county prosecutor, officials said.

Officials at the Attorney General's Office declined to comment when asked if a specific finding by local detectives or a new lead in the case had prompted them to enter the Passaic County probe.

Some of the Passaic Valley employees considered "persons of interest" have been interviewed repeatedly. One is a plant supervisor. Another is a lab technician who, on the morning of Angara's disappearance, told the chemist about two filters that needed to be calibrated, detectives have said.

He was the last to report seeing Angara alive and later found broken glass near the floor opening's metal covering, authorities said. After inspecting the shards for blood, he reported back to a supervisor, Angara family members said, based on their talks with detectives.

They said that, while adjusting an instrument, the technician logged a time that didn't match the device's internal reading. However, detectives concluded he was not the killer.

"If there had been a clear indication of guilt on the part of anyone we interviewed, at a minimum we would have presented it to a grand jury," said Latoracca.

Of those employees who drew suspicion, one refused to take a lie-detector test, one passed the test and one was tested with inconclusive results.
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« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2007, 10:22:11 AM »

http://tinyurl.com/2ytoyf

Family faults hazards, policies at water plant      

Friday, February 9, 2007

By DOUGLASS CROUSE
STAFF WRITER

 

 Cold case files: Background, photos

Chemist Geetha Angara died in a dangerous work environment that her employers knew about but failed to correct, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

 
Relatives claim in the suit that hazardous conditions and ill-conceived policies contributed to Angara's drowning two years ago at the Passaic Valley Water Commission's treatment plant in Totowa. Officials are investigating the death as a homicide and say a co-worker is responsible.

Thursday was the two-year anniversary of Angara's death and the deadline to file the wrongful death suit. Utility officials declined to address its claims.

Angara's husband, Jaya, also declined to comment, saying only that he and the couple's three children have gone through "a painful process" of mourning.

"I have to cherish my wife's memories through my children," he said. "No closure has come for us."

What's next
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Relatives of Geetha Angara plan to hold a vigil in her memory on Saturday at 2 p.m. The public gathering will take place at the Holmdel Senior/Community Building on Crawfords Corner Road in Holmdel.
 
Authorities say a co-worker choked Angara in a remote corridor and threw her, unconscious, through an opening in the floor. The 43-year-old Holmdel woman drowned in a water storage tank below the passageway.

Her body was found the following evening -- after employees delayed 10 hours in mounting a search. In the process, the family's lawsuit says, certain co-workers trampled what might have been useful evidence.

Some county detectives and many employees continue to believe the death may have been accidental.

With no evidence or motive, Passaic County authorities say their investigation has stalled; last week, the state Attorney General's Office said it plans its own probe.

The civil suit names the commission, along with Executive Director Joseph Bella, personnel director James Gallagher, who is also a Passaic County freeholder; Philip Roosa, chief of water quality; superintendent Laura Cummings; Linda Tatro, a supervisor; Joseph Jennings, a lab technician and seven commissioners.

It alleges that:


Shortly before Angara's death, the commission discontinued a buddy system that had required employees to pair up for tasks in remote areas of the plant.


No surveillance cameras were in place in the corridor and two-way radios were unreliable.


Motion sensors meant to detect displacement of water in the tank were not working.


The 4-by-4-foot metal panel over the floor opening was loose.


The steel-lined tank had no ladder or accessible flotation device.

Plant officials have acknowledged the absence of video cameras, which they installed on the plant's grounds soon after Angara's death. At the same time, they said, metal plates were bolted down and railings installed.

The lawsuit also faults the commission for allowing part of a "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" television episode to be filmed at the plant in December 2003. In one scene, a victim is pushed into a tank of chlorinated water that destroys the killer's DNA.

Providing such access was inappropriate, the lawsuit says, in light of concerns about terrorist attacks on water treatment plants and other critical infrastructure sites.

Family members further contend that PVWC failed to boost security after five suspected acts of sabotage in 1993, including the removal of a similar metal plate. No one was ever arrested.

This is not the first time the commission has been challenged on its safety practices.

In January 2005, a former worker received a $1.3 million settlement after claiming he was exposed to toxic chemicals years earlier.

Inspectors from the state Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health program visited the water treatment plant in April 2001. They later issued a report detailing 55 safety violations.

Commission officials said at the time that they addressed the cited deficiencies.

E-mail: crouse@northjersey.com
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« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2007, 10:45:01 AM »

http://tinyurl.com/2zr47e

Calls for justice continue in case of slain chemist      

Sunday, February 11, 2007

By DOUGLASS CROUSE
STAFF WRITER

 

HOLMDEL -- Expressions of grief and renewed demands for justice dominated a memorial gathering Saturday for slain chemist Geetha Angara.

Still, relatives, friends and elected officials found some cause for hope: the state Attorney General's Office said this month it would launch its own probe into Angara's mysterious drowning two years ago at the Passaic Valley Water Commission in Totowa.

 
"We stand here today, two years later, knowing the murderer is still out there," Angara's cousin, Vijay Ramachandran, told a crowd of about 200 people seated in the Holmdel Senior/Community Building. "Let's not let another year go by without progress, without closure."

Passaic County authorities believe an unidentified co-worker choked Angara, a 43-year-old mother of three from Holmdel, on the morning of Feb. 8, 2005. They think the killer threw her through a floor opening into an underground water tank, where her body was found the next day.

Speakers at Saturday's one-hour ceremony included state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Middlesex, and Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, D-Somerset, along with leaders of the state's Indian-American community.

Rama Eleswatapu, president of the regional Telugu Fine Arts Society, warned against any "slackening of resolve" to get answers. The family urged people to sign a petition -- addressed to Governor Corzine -- to keep pressure on the state.

With no witnesses, known motive or evidence, the case has stymied Passaic County detectives.

Angara's husband, Jaya, has been consumed in a quest for justice and led the push to get the state involved. Without that persistence, Kyrillos said, "this investigation perhaps would have been put to the side."
 

7075990
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« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2007, 07:43:22 PM »

THE SHOCKING AND CRUEL MURDER OF A SENIOR SCIENTIST

http://www.geethaangara.com/ga/index.htm

This is a very nice website.
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« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2008, 10:52:54 AM »

Chemist's death remains a mysterySunday, February 10, 2008BY HEATHER APPEL AND ED BEESONTOTOWA -- A third year has passed as the family and friends of Geetha Angara press authorities to solve the mystery of the chemist's death at the Passaic Valley Water Commission in Totowa.

"We can't reconcile it. The wounds are still open," said Saranya Rao, Geetha's older sister.

On Feb. 9, 2005, the 43-year-old Angara's body was found in an underground water tank. A medical examiner said it appeared she had been choked and then pushed through a floor opening into the water tank below. Passaic County investigators immediately branded the death a homicide and suspected she was killed by a co-worker.

Investigators gathered DNA samples from about 50 employees who were working the day she disappeared, the Passaic County prosecutor said. They later identified three "persons of interest," but never charged anyone, citing lack of evidence.

Last year, the Attorney General's Office took over the case from the Prosecutor's Office, after public outcry over the lack of progress. Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso picked up a copy of the case file in 2006, but has since left the Attorney General's Office. Spokesman Peter Aseltine said he could not comment on the status of the case because it's an open investigation.

According to the family's attorney, John P. Leonard, state investigators "continue to tell the family the investigation is ongoing, but don't provide specifics."

"It's a family that remains in a lot of pain and just wants to see some conclusion," Leonard said. Angara, of Holmdel, left behind her husband, Jaya, and their three children, now 12, 16 and 22 years old.

Last year, Angara's relatives filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Superior Court alleging that Angara died in a dangerous work environment that her employers knew about but failed to correct. The suit contends that the initial investigation was botched and evidence was destroyed. It took 10 hours after Angara's disappearance for employees to start a search.

The civil case is now in the discovery process, which means Leonard is collecting thousands of pages of documents from the PVWC and will soon start taking depositions from all the parties named in the lawsuit, which includes several commission administrators and seven commissioners.

Lt. James Wood, who was a lead investigator on the case for the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and has since retired, publicly disclosed last year that he did not think Geetha Angara was murdered. There are some employees within the Prosecutor's Office who also surmise that her death may have been an accident.

County Prosecutor James F. Avigliano said he still considers it a murder case, and that it is at a standstill. He said it will be solved only someone confesses -- "We spent over 4,000 hours on this case; we made all kinds of efforts. You can only go so far," he said.

Angara's family members said they are holding out hope that some answers will emerge.

"It's so painful to go through this," said Rao. "The kids have to cope with this loss every day, and it's hard. My sister was a big influence in their life."

At the time of her death, Angara was at the height of her career. She was promoted to senior chemist in 2004, after 13 years at the Water Commission, where she was responsible for ensuring the safety of the drinking water for 850,000 New Jersey residents.

"We are hopeful that justice will be served," Rao said, "but only hope that it comes soon so we can get some peace."

E-mail: appelh@northjersey.com and beeson@northjersey.com
 
http://www.northjersey.com/news/crimeandcourts/15488051.html
 
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« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2008, 08:18:54 PM »

   Very sad.  Thank you for the update 2NJ.  Perhaps in the future there will be a way to solve this case...
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« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2008, 09:02:56 PM »

  Very sad.  Thank you for the update 2NJ.  Perhaps in the future there will be a way to solve this case...

Yes, it has botherec me since it first was in the news.  Someone inside did it, imo, and is walking around free as a bird. 
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« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2008, 06:12:16 PM »

  Very sad.  Thank you for the update 2NJ.  Perhaps in the future there will be a way to solve this case...

Yes, it has botherec me since it first was in the news.  Someone inside did it, imo, and is walking around free as a bird. 

I agree with you.  I think it  was an inside job too.  I wonder if anyone around the workplace has any suspicions as to whom that might be?  And they are afraid to come forward.  I wonder if there was some professional jealousy.
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« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2009, 11:04:33 AM »

Trial stalls in mystery death


Tuesday, September 15, 2009
BY JOHN PETRICK
The Record
STAFF WRITER
 A state judge on Monday gave attorneys until Sept. 28 to try mediating a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a chemist who died under mysterious circumstances at the Passaic Valley Water Commission’s treatment plant in Totowa in 2005.

The suit maintains that chemist Geetha Angara of Holmdel died in a dangerous work environment that her employers knew about but failed to correct.

The case was scheduled for pretrial motions and trial this week, but state Superior Court Civil Presiding Judge Thomas F. Brogan granted attorneys’ request for the two-week adjournment to try resolving the case with the help of a mediator.

Angara, a mother of three, was found dead on Feb. 9, 2005, in an underground water tank. An autopsy revealed bruising on her neck, signs of an apparent strangulation, and authorities quickly surmised that a PVWC colleague had choked the 43-year-old before pushing her into the tank.

The regional medical examiner’s office concurred. But neither the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office nor the state Attorney General’s Office, which picked up the case, ever named a suspect. Some county detectives and many employees continued to believe the death may have been accidental.

The family filed the wrongful death suit in 2007 against the utility and certain individually named supervisors and lab technicians.

The suit alleges that shortly before Angara’s death, the commission discontinued a buddy system that had required employees to pair up for tasks in remote areas of the plant. The case also contends that no surveillance cameras were in place in the corridor and two-way radios were unreliable.

Motion sensors meant to detect displacement of water in the tank were not working and a 4-by-4-foot metal panel over the floor opening was loose, according to the suit. The steel-lined tank where the body was found also had no ladder or accessible flotation device, the complaint asserts.

Plant officials have acknowledged the absence of video cameras, which they installed on the plant’s grounds soon after Angara’s death. At the same time, they said, metal plates were bolted down and railings installed.

The lawsuit also faults the PVWC for allowing part of a "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" television episode to be filmed at the plant in December 2003. In one scene, a victim is pushed into a tank of chlorinated water that destroys the killer’s DNA. Providing such access was inappropriate, the lawsuit says, in light of concerns about terrorist attacks on water treatment plants and other critical infrastructure sites.

Family members further contend that PVWC failed to boost security after five suspected acts of sabotage in 1993, including the removal of a similar metal plate. No one was ever arrested.

Clifton-based attorney David Welt, representing the commission, declined to address specific allegations in the suit but did say Monday: "PVWC continues to deny these unproven allegations and continues to, as it always has, consider the safety of its employees to be of paramount importance."

The utility serves Clifton, where it is headquartered; Passaic, Paterson and surrounding communities.

E-mail: petrick@northjersey.com


http://www.northjersey.com/news/59295842.html
« Last Edit: September 15, 2009, 11:09:51 AM by 2NJSons_Mom » Logged

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I expect a miracle _Peaches ~ ~ May She Rest In Peace.

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« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2012, 04:52:14 PM »



EXCERPT: “The Ripple Effect: The Fate Of Freshwater In The Twenty-First Century”
 


Alex Prud'homme|June 20, 2011


An excerpt from “The Ripple Effect: the Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century,” by Alex Prud’homme
 
PROLOGUE Under Pressure
 
Thirty-five feet down, on the bottom of a concrete tank filled with a mil-lion gallons of bitterly cold water, lay a body. The tank’s fifty-pound lid was slightly askew; its usually secure bolts were loose or missing.
 
Shards of glass—the remains of a beaker for taking water samples—were scattered across the concrete floor. This was in early February 2005, in a state-of- the-art water purification plant in suburban New Jersey.
 
    The victim was Geetha Angara, a well-liked forty-three-year-old hydrochemist. She was the mother of three, the wife of a banker, had a PhD in organic chemistry from New York University, and had worked at the Pass aic Valley Water Commission plant for twelve years. In 2004, the plant underwent a $70 million upgrade, during which a chlorine treat- me nt system was replaced by an ozone-based system.

 ::snipping2::
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-06-20/markets/29964322_1_geetha-angara-water-issues-water-supplies
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« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2012, 09:41:04 AM »

I wonder if this will ever be solved?
 ::justice2NJ::
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« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2012, 12:14:41 PM »

Excellent question.........
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