Still no suspect in Wantage slaying

Residents worried about safety wonder—who killed Virginia Sommer?

By Joshua Rosenau

Published Nov 19, 2012 at 1:48 pm (Updated Nov 19, 2012)

Photos

Mourners left flowers and a cup of coffee on the wall in front of Virginia "Suzie" Sommer's house on Valley View drive in Wantage on 11/18/2012. (Photo by Joshua Rosenau)

WANTAGE—The Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office said its officers are investigating the alleged slaying of an elderly woman, who was found stabbed to death in her house on Valley View Drive near Lake Neepaulin.

Virginia "Suzie" Sommer, a retired nurse, was found Thursday evening by a family friend who had been unable to reach her by telephone, Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said.

“The friend went to do a well-being check and found her deceased,” Mueller said.

Police suspect foul play, but have not yet identified a suspect, he said. Mueller refrained from offering details about the case, because such information may disrupt efforts to isolate the culprit, he said.

He did not comment on whether the home was burglarized.

“We have very talented detectives working around the clock on this case, and we are pursuing every lead associated,” Mueller said.

Mueller’s reassurances may be cold comfort to residents in the neighborhood, where the silence around the case has led to speculation about the killing.

Marie Flaumenbaum, 82, had known Sommer for more than 25 years. She said her grief has been confounded by the knowledge that her friend was murdered.

“I am very sad that someone would kill her,” Flaumenbaum said. “There’s so many rumors going on, you know? First we thought she was shot. Then I found out she was stabbed.”

Stephen Glasser, who lives just a few steps from Sommer’s house, said he was surprised when he left his house on Friday morning to see police picking through trash cans and combing for evidence in the woods near his house.

“I know the police don’t want to say anything,” Glasser said. “But not knowing anything about it when it is so close to home is crazy.”

Glasser also said he was surprised by the news, because he didn’t realize the house where Sommer lived was occupied.

“It's terrible. Somebody lived there alone,” he said. “It’s sad to know that someone was even living there.”

Some residents of the neighborhood left when the economy tanked, Glasser said, but the knowledge that someone committed a murder in such a tightly constructed neighborhood baffled him.

“There’s two houses really close to that house, and to have no one hear anything is terrible,” he said.

Now suspicious of unfamiliar faces, neighbor LuAnne Blohm could only shake her head in disbelief when speaking about the case.

“It’s crazy. It’s absolutely crazy what happened up there," she said.

Like her friend before her death, Flaumenbaum lives alone in her house. She said that she has good friends on her street, an adoptive family and members of her own family who come for visits.

When asked if she felt safe in her home, she said, “Not that safe. I am just in a state of shock over it.”

Flaunenbaum last spoke with Sommer about a month ago, she said. But the conversation was cut short because Sommer needed to get to her oxygen tank in order to breathe.

"She was intelligent and she had a good sense of humor and she’d tell it like it is, you know a hard worker. She was a wonderful person,” Flaumenbaum said. “She didn’t deserve this.”

Police encourage anyone with information on the case to contact the state police at 973-383-1514 or the county prosecutor at 973-383-1570.