- Hey guys, welcome to my channel.
So for today's look we're going a little darker than usual.
I usually never wear my makeup like this.
John told me to go get him another beer.
- [Police] So when did your daughter go missing?
- [Mother] She left me at 10 o'clock last night.
- [Narrator] What is up EWU crew.
On October 31st,
2019,
25-year-old Stephanie Parze
of Freehold, New Jersey,
was reported missing by her mother,
Charlene Parze.
- [Mother] We still haven't heard from her.
She's still not home.
- [Woman On Call] Okay. What's her name?
- [Mother] Stephanie.
- [Woman On Call] And last name?
- [Mother] Parze.
P as in Peter, a-r-z-e.
- [Woman On Call] Okay.
what is her ex-boyfriend's name?
Since there's a history of domestics.
- [Mother] John Ozbilgen.
- [Narrator] Her mother reported
that her family had not seen or heard from her
since the night before, when they parted ways
after attending a psychic show in New Brunswick together.
"She gave me three kisses goodbye
"and I just told her to call me
"or text me when she gets home.
"And I never heard from her," Charlene Parze said.
Stephanie's boyfriend, John Ozbilgen
claimed to have stayed with her at her home
the night before.
Ozbilgen also told Stephanie's sister
that she was getting ready for work
the last time he had seen her.
On Halloween, she was scheduled to babysit,
but never showed up,
which her family said wasn't like her at all.
This alarmed her mother enough
that she called the police a short time later.
When police went to Stephanie's house,
they found her car in the driveway,
along with her dog in the house alone.
Her cell phone was also left behind.
By the end of the search,
the police couldn't find any sign of forced entry
and no indication of where Stephanie was
or what had happened to her.
- Lips, never wore black.
But I'm kinda feeling it today.
And this new wig.
- [Narrator] Stephanie had a good life
with no reason to want to walk away from it.
In fact, her family said the only thing wrong in her life
was her on again, off again relationship with Ozbilgen.
Two days after Stephanie Parze disappeared,
the investigation revealed the possession
of illegal imagery depicting minors
on John Ozbilgen's cell phone.
He was promptly arrested
after the discovery and adamantly denied the charge.
The detectives saw marks on his neck at that time,
suggesting a struggle
if he had indeed been involved
with Stephanie's disappearance.
He quickly became a prime suspect in her case
and the evidence started to pile up.
Police confiscated Ozbilgen's phone,
and traced the GPS data to a wooded area
around Staten Island, Long Pond park.
Data shows he was in the area for around six hours.
Now, John Ozbilgen was no stranger to law enforcement.
He had a drug possession charge from 2010
and in 2019, he was arrested twice in three months.
In June, 2019, he assaulted an unknown woman.
And in September, he became violent
after Stephanie tried to break up with him.
She told the police at the time,
that she was afraid he would assault her again.
There was also a third earlier assault charge
from another unknown woman.
Upon seeing the charge Parze put on her boyfriend,
they began to look deeper.
Prosecutors revealed that Ozbilgen sent Parze
10 angry text messages and private Facebook messages
in the span of nine minutes
the night before she went missing.
The profanity-filled messages blamed Parze
for the failure of their relationship.
Stephanie didn't respond to any of the messages.
Prosecutors revealed the text messages
to Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon
in an effort to convince him to leave Ozbilgen in jail
while awaiting trial.
The search for Parze's remains
was still very active at that time.
Their efforts failed however,
and John was released on Tuesday, November 19th.
Merely three days later, though,
on November 22nd, he took his own life.
- Tonight, a person of interest
in the case of a missing New Jersey woman is dead.
And many wonder if he took his secret with him.
- [Reporter] Now, the family is processing stunning news.
Her ex-boyfriend, John Ozbilgen,
a person of interest in the case, is dead.
- [Narrator] When John Ozbilgen's remains were found
in the garage of his parents' house,
two notes were discovered,
scrawled on the back of shopping lists.
One was addressed to his parents
and the other was to an ex-girlfriend.
The note left for John's parents read,
"Mom, dad, Sal, Sammy,
"sorry about all this craziness.
"I've been miserable for so long now,
"I had enough.
"Thanks for everything.
"I can't do life in prison.
"Most of the stuff you will hear is true.
"Use the pics with me and (redacted) for the funeral.
"That was the only time in my life where I was truly happy.
"I want (redacted) to help plan everything with you.
"Tell her I'm sorry.
"And I love her.
"She was so good to me.
"We had an amazing life.
"I messed it up.
"She only did good for me.
"I dug myself in a deep hole.
"This is the only choice.
"I love you guys."
The note left to his ex-girlfriend read,
"I love you so much, little lady.
"I miss you so much.
"I don't know what I was thinking
"when I messed our relationship up.
"You were the best thing that happened to me.
"I tried to move on many times.
"I will never feel for another lady
"the way I feel for you.
"Recently, I tried to reach out to you.
"You got a restraining order?
"Why?
"At that moment, I felt like my entire world ended.
"I truly needed you in a huge way.
"Look at the mess I created.
"Laugh out loud.
"Don't believe everything in the news.
"I hope you're doing well.
"And I hope you have an amazing life.
"You deserve it.
"Not a day goes by where I don't think about you and Ben.
"The girl in the news with me was such a piece of work.
"She hurt me over and over when I was already at my lowest.
"She was a horrible person.
"Please help my parents with my funeral.
"You're the only person I have ever loved.
"Sorry for everything.
"I wish I could go back in time and correct my mistakes
"But I can't."
When Ozbilgen never mentioned Stephanie by name
in his letters,
police concluded that he was admitting his guilt
when he said that,
"Most of the stuff you will hear is true.
"I dug myself in a deep hole,"
and, "Look at the mess I created."
He never outright confessed,
never mentioned where her remains were
and most of his regret was centered on how things ended
with his ex,
than about what happened to Stephanie.
In fact, how he blatantly disparaged
the woman whose life he had taken shows a glimpse
into how his mind worked.
Ozbilgen's family chose to look at the letters
in a different way.
They believed it was not a confession
and that their son was innocent.
In fact, they believe the contents of the notes confirm
that he was not responsible.
In a written statement,
Hawkin and Cynthia Ozbilgen said,
"We are very sorry for her family
"and we hope they can find peace through this nightmare.
"We don't truly know what happened to Stephanie
"but what we do know is John never said
"that he hurts Stephanie to us
"or in the note he left us.
"We believe he is innocent.
"But all the pressure from the false charges
"and the constant searches
"and relentlessness caused him to take his own life."
Ozbilgen's family attorney, Richard E. Incremona declared,
"The family is obviously distraught
"and has been distraught for a couple of weeks now.
"They have, from the beginning, offered their cooperation.
"There have been pressures on them
"with warrants and subpoenas.
"They have no privacy here.
"You see what's going on here.
"This has been going on for weeks."
The Parze family said at the time
that they had no public comments to make
regarding Ozbilgen's death.
Their focus was only on finding their daughter.
On Sunday, January 26th,
2020,
18-year-old, Jeremy Carlos Perez,
and 17-year-old, Eric Rodriguez,
were walking to the Old Bridge, New Jersey Catering Hall
where they both worked.
As they passed a guard rail along the busy highway,
they spotted what they thought was a mannequin six feet away
near a wooded area.
When they went to take a closer look,
they quickly realized it was a lifeless victim,
fully clothed and lying face down.
- [Male Reporter] Today, the family
of the missing 25-year-old
still processing the news they feared.
This after her body discovered in a wooded area of Route 9,
in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
- [Female Reporter] Yeah, an autopsy determined
the body was Stephanie Parze.
That she went missing a day before Halloween.
- [Narrator] The next day, an autopsy confirmed
that these were the remains of Stephanie Parze.
Although the cause of death was never released.
She had been found 15 miles from her home
and half a mile from where her family had searched
in late November.
The remains were discovered in plain sight
so that someone walking by could see them,
but positioned in a way that made it impossible
for motorists to see it as they drove by.
By this point, she had been missing for almost three months.
Edward Parze, Stephanie's father,
spoke at a news conference later that day.
Breaking down in tears, he said,
"It goes without saying that our family is devastated.
"Our friends,
"our community, and our lives
"are never going to be the same.
"However, Stephanie is home.
"She's coming home at last.
"We have to thank all of Steph's angels.
"We could not have gotten through this without you."
Steph's angels refers to the large group of volunteers
that helped search for Stephanie.
In the 87 days between when she went missing
and when her remains were found,
Steph's angels searched over 60 sites
in Staten Island and New Jersey.
Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni
spoke to the evidence they found
tying Ozbilgen to Parze's murder,
but would not specify what the evidence was
since the investigation was ongoing.
He did state, however,
that they had been actively seeking to charge Ozbilgen
with murder.
During the early days of the investigation,
the police executed more than 50 search warrants.
Five of those warrants were on Ozbilgen's home.
During these searches,
the evidence found pointed to Ozbilgen as the killer
but the police say it was the notes that he left behind,
that confirmed what they had already strongly suspected.
In regard to Stephanie Parze's remains being found,
Gramiccioni said,
"This was a finding we had expected since early November
"but was only recently confirmed with further analysis
"of evidence we had seized during our investigation."
Police don't believe anyone else
was connected to Parze's murder.
Gramiccioni went on to say,
"No one else is responsible.
"The responsibility belongs to John Ozbilgen
"and John Ozbilgen alone."
Police think that he murdered Stephanie
either late on the night of October 30th
or in the early morning hours of October 31st,
before dumping her remains on the side of the road.
Stephanie Parze's family said she had been dating Ozbilgen
for only a few months,
which her Facebook posts appear to confirm.
Only a month into their relationship,
Stephanie pressed assault charges against Ozbilgen.
Needless to say, their short-term relationship
was toxic from the beginning.
And sadly ended in tragedy for Stephanie Parze.
Ed Parze, Stephanie's father,
had this to say about Ozbilgen,
"He was a typical manipulator.
"He kept worming his way back in."
The family had disliked him from the beginning.
The first time they had met him,
Stephanie brought him along on a family rafting trip.
Just as friends at the time.
Ed Parze said that Ozbilgen was,
"Just a not sociable at all.
"I didn't like the way the guy looked at people."
In September, Ozbilgen was arrested for assault.
And this is when Stephanie's family
became aware of his history.
In order to support Stephanie,
her parents went to court with her.
But despite this,
Parze allowed him to continue to contact her.
The irony is,
"If this had happened to her sisters,
"she would have been all over the guy."
Ed Parze said.
"She was 25 and looking for something serious.
"Everything he said, he just lied."
A former girlfriend of John Ozbilgen
spoke to Asbury Park Press
and told them that she believed that Ozbilgen
might have suffocated Parze.
This ex-girlfriend was the same one who filed charges
against him in June.
However, it is not clear if the unnamed ex
is the same one that Ozbilgen references in his notes.
The ex-girlfriend also confirms something
that was evident in the notes.
She had been in contact with him during the investigation
and said that he showed no concern for Stephanie Parze.
She also stated that he had recently begun stalking
yet another ex-girlfriend.
This might be the woman Ozbilgen references in his notes
as the woman had filed a restraining order against him.
On January 21st,
2020,
five days after her remains were found,
Stephanie Parze was laid to rest
at St. Rose of Lima Cemetery in Freehold, New Jersey.
Earlier that day,
mourners packed the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church
to honor the young woman
whose life was cut so tragically short.
These included family, friends, volunteers,
and people from the local community,
who had taken an active interest in the high profile case.
- I've see myself in this type of makeup before,
and I'm actually really excited about it.
- [Narrator] Rather than just to dwell on her murder,
the family chose to use the service to honor her life.
In a program handed out to the attendees,
the Parze family said,
"We would like to thank you all
"for helping us celebrate Stephanie's life and spirit.
"The support, love, kindness and friendship
"during these last three months gave us strength,
"lit our fires of hope and renewed our faith.
"We are forever grateful.
"It has given us comfort
"to be surrounded by family and friends
"in this time of grief."
Underneath a picture of the Parze family,
standing in front of a waterfall, they wrote,
"Your angels have found you
"and guided you back to all who love you.
"The pain of not knowing has subsided
"now that we know you're safe and sound in heaven."
The family described Stephanie as feisty and independent,
a spitfire and a four foot 11 firecracker.
They also said she was giving, fiercely loving
and protective of her family.
Ed Parze states, "She had a generous nature
"that Ozbilgen took advantage of."
Shortly after Stephanie Parze's remains were found,
the family created a foundation in her name and honor.
The family has been very active
in their work for the foundation.
- Thanks (laughs).
- [Narrator] They have appeared on The Dr. Oz Show,
raised awareness and actively joined
in assisting in other missing person cases.
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- I'll see you guys next time.