On October 10th 1989, Aileen Marks of Middlesex County, NJ, woke up in her Kendell Park home where she lived with her husband and nine children. She got dressed, had breakfast, kissed her children goodbye and went to work at Krauszer’s. Krauszer’s is a chain of privately owned convenience stores located in New Jersey and Connecticut. The Krauszer’s of interest in this story, was located on Alston Rd., near Route 27 in South Brunswick (Middlesex County) New Jersey.
Aileen kept herself busy throughout the morning rush by re-filling coffee machine filters, restocking pastries, and ringing up purchases at the front counter. A hard working woman like her, with two to three jobs at a time, preferred to keep busy. And with nine children at home, it was easy to find the motivation to keep working. By 11:25am, the once constant flow of customers had been reduced to a trickle. The convenience store, now saw only one or two customers at a time.
At 11:40am, one such customer walked into Krauszer’s convenient store, expecting a routine trip. After all, a trip to the local convenience store was not cause for excitement. But when this person entered the store, something immediately felt “off”. A quick scan of the store revealed no sales associate; no Aileen, no other customers, no anyone. As the lone customer approached the cash register, the reason for the silence was immediately and horrifically clear. Aileen had been shot to death, her lifeless body was found just behind the counter where the register was located.
Aileen’s family describe her as a loving, hard-working woman. Aileen’s kindness was truly unique and knew no boundaries. If she met someone who had no one else or nowhere to go, they were welcome to spend time with her family. There was always room for one more at the dinner table. The loss of someone like Aileen makes the world a lesser place. If the murderer knew Aileen, how could they murder someone who was that kind hearted? And if the murderer didn’t know Aileen, could they imagine loss their actions brought upon on Aileen’s family, friends, and community? The original investigators went about their work and questioned customers, locals, and anyone else who looked like they were “good” suspect, but eventually the trail went cold.
It’s been thirty years since Aileen’s murder. The Krauszer's convenience store is now a Stop n'Go. There have been no arrests in Aileen’s murder and currently, there are no suspects. At the time of the murder, authorities disclosed that robbery was a possible motivation for the crime since there was $400.00 missing from the register at Krauszer’s. Carly Balwin of Patch.com noted that since the case has been re-opened, the lead detectives have no mentioned robbery as a motive, which leads some to believe that there may have been another motive for the killing.
Perhaps the killer is one of the people Aileen allowed into her home when they had nowhere else to go. Maybe Aileen recognized the robber, and they killed her in order to keep their identity a secret. Maybe the intention was simply robbery but the gun went off unintentionally.
The who, how and why are unknown, but someone knows something that could lead to the arrest of the person who murdered Aileen. Someone has a friend who acted differently after the murder took place. Someone has a cousin who left town immediately after the murder for an unknown reason, and returned a couple months later. Someone’s co-worker back-in-the-day made sure to tell everyone what they were doing and when (a timeline down to the minute) on the day of the murder.
If you, or someone you know, believe you have information about the murder of Aileen Morris, contact Crime Stoppers (which is completely anonymous) at 1-800-939-9600 or submit online at www.middlesextips.com or call the Detective Sergeant Mike Pellino or Detective Rick Delucia of the South Brunswick Police Department at (732) 329-4000 ext. 7496.
Sources
https://www.sublet.com/area_rentals/newjersey-middlesexcounty/southbrunswick_rentals.asp (map of Middlesex County)