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  05:25am EST, 11/22/09
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Landfill Search Yields No Sign of Missing Student



New Jersey State Police say a second day of digging is over at landfills in Pennsylvania.

And there is still no sign of a freshman from The College of New Jersey, missing for over a week.

John Fiocco, a 19-year-old from Mantua Township, was last seen by friends during the early morning of March 25th.

Authorities have been concentrating their search at the landfills since finding Fiocco's blood in and around a trash bin near his dorm.

The case is still being treated as a missing person investigation.

State Police Captain Al Della Fave says the search at the landfill involves "anything and everything" that might help find Fiocco, "including a body."

Digging Sunday lasted for more than nine hours at a landfill in Tullytown, Pennsylvania. Digging at the neighboring landfill in Falls Township has yet to start in earnest.

Prospective students at the college and their parents said the case did not make them more worried about campus safety:

"I have no concern. It's an isolated incident," said Brian Ade, of Allendale. 

His 18-year-old daughter, Emily, is considering enrolling at The College of New Jersey.

"I just hope they find the poor kid," added Ade's wife, Maria.

The sentiment was echoed by other newly accepted students and their parents who attended a welcoming event on the Ewing campus. Most seemed unfazed by the dozens of postings of a smiling John Fiocco with the word "REWARD" emblazoned in bright red letters underneath.

The search for Fiocco, a 19-year-old freshman who was last seen by friends during the early morning of March 25, resumed around 8:30am Sunday at a landfill in Tullytown, Pa., where campus garbage is hauled. A similar search on Saturday turned up no evidence, state police Capt. Al Della Fave said.

Della Fave said authorities from New Jersey and Pennsylvania were combing the landfill for "anything and everything" that might help them find Fiocco, "including a body." The Tullytown landfill is one of two in Pennsylvania where authorities have concentrated their search since finding Fiocco's blood in and around a trash bin near his dorm.

The case is officially being treated as a missing person investigation, however.

Searching has yet to begin in earnest at the second landfill, in neighboring Falls Township, Pa., Della Fave said. At each of the two landfills, authorities plan to search a 1-acre parcel about 20 feet deep.

"It's bad timing for the college. They're trying to downplay it," said Michael Fischer, 46, whose daughter Jennifer was accepted to TCNJ:

"You hear of worse things at other schools, but I thought they would have at least handed out something to ease the parents' minds saying it was just an isolated incident."

"This is something that can happen anywhere. It doesn't affect my decision at all," said Jennifer Fischer, 17.

Dean of Admissions Lisa Angeloni said Sunday she had received no questions about Fiocco's disappearance from parents during the event:

"The college has done a good job of being honest. We have to be honest. We are answering questions about it, if someone asks."

Authorities are looking into whether Fiocco, an art major from Mantua Township, ended up in the trash bin, possibly through a dorm trash chute. So far, officials refuse to say whether Fiocco definitely went down the chute or whether foul play may have been involved.

 


 
 
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