Crime & Safety

Cranford Police Charge Boyfriend in Killing of 22-Year-Old Warren Woman

William Pariso, a resident of Cranford, was being held at Union County Jail as of Monday evening.

The Union County Homicide Task Force announced that police arrested William Parisio of Greaves Place in Cranford this evening, charging him with homicide in the death of Pamela Schmidt.

Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow released a statement Monday evening, saying that Parisio, 23, is being held at the Union County Jail on $400,000 bail. He will make his first court appearance in the coming days, according to Romankov.

Romankov's statement didn't specify what charge or charges Parisio was being held on. The Star-Ledger, however, is reporting that he was charged with first-degree murder.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cranford Police responded to a call around noon Sunday from the Parisio family home at 17 Greaves Place, where they found in the basement of the home, according to a source close to the investigation.

Schmidt, who lived with her family at their home on Shindelar Woods Way in Warren, was declared dead at the scene. A graduate student interning at Amicus Therapeutics, she was scheduled to graduate this year from Rutgers University in New Brunswick with a Master's degree in Human Resources Management.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Schmidt reportedly was in a relationship with the 2006 Cranford High School alumnus. In his Facebook page, Parisio showed off a photo last October of his arm featuring "Pam" tattooed in script on his arm.

Parisio, who is roughly six feet tall, "could be a little intimidating, but he was always pleasant to everyone," said a neighbor who has lived on the block for more than 20 years. The neighbor asked to remain anonymous. 

Neighbors of the Parisios said they often observed Schmidt parking her four-door BMW, which bore the vanity license plate – Karen1 – on the street when visiting Parisio.

According to his Linkedin profile, Pariso is also a Rutgers University student in New Brunswick, part of the class of 2012.

Parisio and Schmidt also interned together at Sirius XM Radio in New York City; Schmidt worked from Sept. 2009 to May 2010, serving in the human resources department, while Parisio worked for the Howard Stern Show for less than a year in 2010, according to their LinkedIn profiles. It was unclear what department Parisio worked in.

Other residents of 17 Greaves Place include Parisio's father and mother, Joseph Parisio and Dianne McKernan. A woman answered the door Monday evening, but refused to comment about anything surrounding Schmidt's death.

Maryrose Mullen and John Celock contributed to this report.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.