ED'S SPEECH

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,   

As Lt. Beninghof mentioned, my name is Ed Parze, I am the president & CEO of the Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation. Our mission is to provide education, intervention and support to families and individuals dealing with domestic violence, sexual abuse and missing loved ones. Today, as part of that mission, our missing persons family assistance unit, will be donating two vital resources to the New Jersey State Police. I am very excited to be here for this extremely important presentation ceremony.

But first, I would like to thank Colonel Callahan, Lt. Colonel Sean Kilcomons and members of the New Jersey State Police for allowing our Foundation to provide these special resources. To Lt. Bryan Burke and Lt. Sarah Beninghof for making this day a reality and for recognizing our mission to assist the families of the missing. Thank you to Detective Sgt. Erin Micciulla, who built the relationship between our two organizations, and to Detective Sgt. 1st Class Joe Itri and Detective Sgt. Joe Pompeo for working with our organization over the last few years.  Also a special thanks to all of Steph’s Angels for working so hard to raise the funds to allow things like this to happen and for being here today. As always we appreciate the continuous support from the communities & business who have always been there for us. 

This is a very big day for the Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation and it’s missing person family assistance unit. More importantly, it is an even bigger day for the families who are currently dealing with the anguish of a missing loved one. This day will prove to play a huge role in assisting those families and future families that will unfortunately face this same ordeal. 

The statistics do not lie! Over 600,000 people go missing in the united states annually. That is 1 person every 11 minutes

Currently New Jersey ranks 16th nationally with 298 open missing persons cases.

My family and I know the pain that these families are going through. On October 30, 2019 our own nightmare began when our daughter Stephanie, then 25 years old, went missing. We would come to find out that she had been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, in her home and later dumped, like garbage, in the brush along the Route 9 highway in Old Bridge Twp. 

Her body would lie there for 87 days before finally being discovered. 

During these 87 days there were over 114 volunteer and professionally organized searches conducted using every type of resource we could muster. The use of K-9 live search and cadaver dogs being among those resources. These K-9’s are able to cover vast search areas in less than half the time it would take the average searcher on the ground to cover. Their scent and endurance is their secret weapons and is unmatched by any human senses or strengths. They can even scent underwater. 

The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation is please to be able to provide a new asset to the state police K-9 Response and Training Unit their newest team member, “K9-SPARZE”, who is named after our Stephanie. Sparze is being trained in live search and cadaver recovery currently and will be deployed to assist not only the state police but also other agencies as they find the missing and help bring closure to those families in desperate need.

I remember one of the most painful times of our ordeal. It was day 87. We were notified that a body had been found with characteristics matching Stephanie. This was at approximately 2:00 pm on January 26, 2020. I remember my stomach turning, my heart sinking and the look of devastation on my wife’s face, as we waited for confirmation that it was truly her. Little did we know, we would have to wait for an agonizing 22 hours, anticipating the worst and hoping for a miracle. Sitting exhausted and terrified at our dinette table, surrounded by friends and family, until the call finally came in with the confirmation. 

That should never have happened. Our vow, our hope is that no other family will ever have to endure that pain. 

Today the Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation also will be providing a new portable forensic dental x-ray machine to the New Jersey State Police Forensics and Technical Services section. This vital piece of equipment will assist the crime scene unit and forensic anthropology units to identify human remains on scene quickly, allowing confirmation and notification to the families expeditiously in the future.

The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation is dedicated to its mission to help as many families as we can by assisting and supporting them throughout their ordeals. Through coordinated and communicative efforts with local, county and state law enforcement agencies, this together with the resources in place we can reduce the number of open missing persons cases in New Jersey significantly. The difference is teamwork! 

Because together we can all make a difference!

The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation wishes Trooper Straube and K9 Sparze, the best of luck and much success on all of the missions they will be called upon to face. We pray for their safety and for the safety of all of the men and women who serve to keep us protected. We also pray for those families who are waiting for missing loved ones, that they will return home. 

I thank you all for your time and your support! 

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season and always, remember Stephanie in your hearts and minds. 

Thank you!