Princeton Borough Police Department
_X_ INCIDENT
___ Juvenile
___ Sr. Citizen
___ Gang
_ _ _ ARREST
___ Child Abuse
___ Domestic
___ Involved
Alcohol
1 Monument Drive
Princeton, NJ
CASE NUMBER:
001294-23E-2004
OFFENSE:
N/A
Location of Offense (Exact address, include Room/Apt. No.)
Hibben Apartments Apt. 210
100 Faculty Road
Princeton, NJ
Location of Arrest
N/A
Reporting Officer:
(Exact address, include Room/Apt. No.)
Sgt. Michael Meyers
Badge Number:
105
Date Reported:
05-23-2004
STATUTE:
Date of Offense:
May 23, 2004
Date of Arrest:
N/A
Assisting Officer:
N/A
Time Reported:
9:15 AM
___
___
Committed
Attempted
Time of Offense:
9:22 AM
Time of Arrest:
N/A
Badge Number:
N/A
PERSON 1
Type:
Victim
Name:
Crystal Jane Valentine
Race
White
Height
5' 7"
Category:
Adult
Foul Play Suspected
No
Alias/Street Name/Nickname
none
Vic/Offender Relationship
N/A
Weight
125
Hair
Blonde
Eyes
Brown
Sex
F
Hat
none
Age
28
Injury Extent
Fatal
DOB
March 23, 1976
Address
Hibben Apartments Apt. 210
100 Faculty Road
Princeton, NJ
Occupation
Assistant Professor
Jacket/Coat
none
Shirt
white sleeveless mock turtleneck
SS#
XXX-XX-XXXX
Injury Description
Strangulation
Employer/School
Department of Chemistry
Princeton University
Pants
navy blue sweatpants
Scars/Marks/Tattoos
none visible
Res Phone
Bus Phone
Employer Address
234 Frick Chemical Laboratories
Princeton University
Skirt/Dress
N/A
609-413-XXXX
609-258-XXXX

Princeton, NJ
PERSON 2 a Type:
Witness
Name:
Nadine Michelle Hart
Race
White
Height
5' 7"
Hat
none
Age
25
Jacket/Coat
none
DOB
Apr. 6, 1979
Injury Extent
none
Address
Hibben Apartments Apt. 210
100 Faculty Road
Princeton, NJ
Category:
Adult
Alias/Street Name/Nickname Vic/Offender Relationship
none cousin & roommate
Weight
135
Shirt
white
SS#
XXX-XX-XXXX
Injury Description
N/A
Hair
Blonde
Pants
Foul Play Suspected
N/A
blue denim
none visible
Res Phone
Bus Phone
Eyes
Green
Scars/Marks/Tattoos
609-413-XXXX
609-258-XXXX
Sex
F
Skirt/Dress
N/A
Occupation
Graduate Student /
Employer/School
Lewis Center of the Arts
Princeton University
Employer Address
Lewis Center for the Arts
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
ITEMS OF EVIDENCE/PROPERTY RECOVERED
(1) Type
___ Damaged
___ Lost
___ Recovered
___ Stolen
_X_ Taken into Evidence
Item Description
001294-01: New Jersey driver's license issued to
Crystal J. Valentine, collected for identification purposes
(2) Type
___ Damaged
___ Lost
___ Recovered
___ Stolen
_X_ Taken into Evidence
Item Description
001294-02: Note “I have been a fool” on bedroom dresser
REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
In summary, R/O Sgt. Michael Meyers was dispatched to above location regarding a death. Upon arrival, R/O made contact with complainant, the victim's roommate identified as Nadine Michelle Hart, who reported that, shortly after she returned home at approximately 9:00 AM, she found the victim hanging in the victim's bedroom closet. Sgt. Meyers, as a certified EMT, checked the victim for a pulse, and upon finding none immediately secured the scene. At 9:26 AM, R/O notified Dispatch to assign an ambulance to the scene immediately. R/O then made the following notifications: Detective Unit, Princeton Borough Police 9:28 AM;
CSU, 9:30 AM; Coroner, Coroner's case # 2004-277, 9:31 AM. Upon arrival of detectives, R/O turned over all pertinent info to the detectives and secured the scene as directed by detectives.

Autopsy Report
Office of the Mercer County Coroner
DATE and HOUR AUTOPSY PERFORMED:
5/24/2004; 8:30 A.M. by
Assistant:
Bettina Martindale, M.D.
Raafat Ahmad, M.D.
Mercer County Airport, Bldg. #31
West Trenton, NJ 08628
609-530-7523
Fax: 609-530-7522
Full Autopsy Performed
Name:
VALENTINE, Crystal Jane
Date of Birth:
TBD
Race:
Case #
White
Date of Death:
5/22/2004
001294-23E-2004
SUMMARY REPORT OF AUTOPSY
Coroner's Case #:
2004-277
Age:
TBD
Sex:
Female
Body Identified by:
Nadine Michelle Hart, cousin of the deceased
Investigative Agency:
Princeton Borough Police Department
EVIDENCE OF TREATMENT:
N/A
EXTERNAL EXAMINATION:
The autopsy is begun at 8:30 A.M. on May 24, 2004. The body is presented in a black body bag. The victim is wearing a white sleeveless turtleneck shirt and navy blue sweatpants.
Jewelry included two smooth-textured silver hoop pierced earrings, 1-inch diameter, one in each ear, and one 1-inch wide silver expandable wristband on left wrist. A 1.5-inch wide tan belt with green stripes is cinched around the upper neck using the buckle. The belt was cut midway between the buckle and knot to the closet crossbar to preserve evidence. The opposite end of the belt is tied in a half-hitch knot, which was used to affix it to the crossbar in the closet where the body was found.
The body is that of a normally developed white female measuring 67 inches and weighing 118 pounds. The body is cold and unembalmed. Lividity is fixed in the distal portions of the limbs. The eyes are open. The irises are brown and corneas are cloudy. Petechial hemorrhaging is present in the conjuctival surfaces of the eyes. The pupils measure 0.3 cm. The hair is dark blonde with lighter blonde highlights, wavy, layered and approximately
11 inches in length at the longest point.
Removal of the belt revealed a ligature mark (known throughout this report as Ligature A) on the neck below the mandible. Ligature A is approximately 1.5 inches wide and encircles the neck in the form of a "V" on the anterior of the neck and an inverted "V" on the posterior of the neck, consistent with hanging. Minor abrasions are present in the area of Ligature A. There is a noticeable lack of hemorrhage surrounding Ligature A.

Following removal of the shirt, a second ligature mark (known throughout this report as Ligature B) was observed on the victim’s neck. The mark is dark red ligature and encircles the neck, crossing the anterior midline of the neck just below the laryngeal prominence. The width of the mark varies between 0.8 and 1cm and is horizontal in orientation. The skin of the anterior neck above and below the ligature mark shows pronounced petechial hemorrhaging. Ligature B is not consistent with the belt that caused Ligature A. There is an absence of abrasions associated with Ligature B, along with the variations in the width of the ligature mark.
The genitalia are that of an adult female and there is no evidence of injury. Limbs are equal, symmetrically developed and show no evidence of injury. The fingernails are medium length and fingernail beds are blue.
There are no residual scars, markings or tattoos.
INTERNAL EXAMINATION:
HEAD--CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: Subsequent autopsy shows a broken hyoid bone. Hemorrhaging from Ligature B penetrates the skin and subdermal tissues of the neck. The brain weighs 1,303 grams and within normal limits.
SKELETAL SYSTEM: The hyoid bone is fractured.
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM--THROAT STRUCTURES: The oral cavity shows no lesions. Petechial hemorrhaging is present in the mucosa of the lips and the interior of the mouth. Otherwise, the mucosa is intact and there are no injuries to the lips, teeth or gums.
There is no obstruction of the airway. The mucosa of the epiglottis, glottis, piriform sinuses, trachea and major bronchi are anatomic. No injuries are seen and there are no mucosal lesions. The hyoid bone, the thyroid, and the cricoid cartilages are fractured.
The lungs weigh: right, 355 grams; left 362 grams. The lungs are unremarkable.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM: The heart weighs 253 grams, and has a normal size and configuration. No evidence of atherosclerosis is present.
GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM: The mucosa and wall of the esophagus are intact and gray-pink, without lesions or injuries. The gastric mucosa is intact and pink without injury. Approximately 125 ml of partially digested semisolid food is found in the stomach. The mucosa of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon and rectum are intact.
URINARY SYSTEM: The kidneys weigh: left, 115 grams; right, 113 grams. The kidneys are anatomic in size, shape and location and are without lesions.
FEMALE GENITAL SYSTEM: The structures are within normal limits. Examination of the pelvic area indicates the victim had not given birth previously and was approximately 10 weeks pregnant at the time of death.
LABORATORY DATA
Cerebrospinal fluid culture and sensitivity:
Gram stain: Unremarkable
Culture: No growth after 72 hours
Cerebrospinal fluid bacterial antigens:
Hemophilus influenza B: Negative
Streptococcus pneumoniae: Negative
N. Meningitidis: Negative
Neiserria meningitidis B/E. Coli K1: Negative
// Raafat Ahmad, M.D.
Mercer County Coroner's Office
May 25, 2004

Ligature
A
Ligature
B
Search of Apartment for Drugs
A search of the apartment for prescription drugs or powder residue was undertaken. In the medicine chest a prescription for 2 mg Klonopin was found, filled on April 15, 2004 for 30 pills for Crystal Valentine. The prescriber was Dr. Sutton Burr of Princeton Psychiatric Associates. The bottle contained 30 pills.
In the medicine chest there was also a card of birth control pills from Dr. Margaret Adderly of Mercer Ob/Gyn
Group in the name of Crystal Valentine dated as filled on April 15, 2004. The package is shown below.

An additional bottle of 30 2 mg Lunesta was found prescribed for Crystal Valentine with 2 pills remaining dated
April 15, 2004 by Dr. Elliot Meggars of MdVIP Princton.
White Powder residue was noted just off the edge of a cutting board on the kitchen counter.
Y Chromosome Data on Fetus
An attempt was made to obtain Y chromosome data from the fetus. The fetus is female so no data could be obtained.

Floor Plan
Crystal Jane Valentine was born on March 23, 1976, to Michael and Georgia Valentine, who were prominent members of New Jersey society.

Experts on the New Jersey social scene, noted that Michael Valentine, using his family's real estate and casino money, has brokered political elections at local, state, and national levels. They also noted that Valentine’s power-wielding has earned him many enemies, although there is no public record of vocal opposition to
Valentine or his influence in any recent history commentaries on New Jersey politics.
After high school, Crystal was admitted to MIT based on exemplary grades from Pingry. At the same time, the
Institute announced it had received an "exceptionally generous contribution from an anonymous but eminently respected benefactor."
Crystal received a bachelor's degree in chemistry with highest honors and then a PhD by age 25, also from MIT, earning superior grades. Few students remember her attending social activities or parties, and one roommate said she never saw Crystal once during the semester they supposedly shared a room. Crystal went on to a prestigious one year post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford.
After Crystal completed her post-doc, she was offered a position as an instructor in the Chemistry Department at Princeton University, and was later promoted to a tenure track assistant professorship when that position became available. At about this time, the creation of the "Valentine Endowment for the Study and Advancement of Analytical Chemistry" was announced. The University did not release the amount of the endowment.
Crystal was not known for socializing with the other Chemistry faculty and no one recalls ever having seen her with any male companions.
Soon after moving into university provided faculty housing in the Hibben apartments, Crystal acquired a roommate, her cousin Nadine Michelle Hart, who was a second year graduate student in art at Princeton.
A search did not turn up any warrants or arrest records for Crystal Valentine.
Luminol
The apartment was sprayed with luminol. The bathtub in Crystal’s bathroom and large swaths of the floor showed weak blue luminescence. There were small bright blue regions in the bath room sinks and on the toilets in both bathrooms, and weak luminescence around the kitchen sink, near the trash basket and on a cutting board. There was a small amount of bright blue luminescence on the handle of a paring knife.
Note on Dresser
Exemplar of Victim’s Handwriting
A note provided by Crystal’s father, Michael Valentine, that Crystal had enclosed in a birthday gift to her father

.
Exemplar of Nadine Hart’s Handwriting
Interview with Dr. Sutton Burr
Dr. Burr was interviewed at the Princeton Borough Police Department by Det. Ronald Reston and Det. Elliot
Bloomfield.

Dr. Burr was clearly shocked by Crystal Valentine’s death. He said she had been his patient since being promoted to the tenure track position and that he was treating her for anxiety. He said that he believed the source of Crystal’s anxiety was that she thought that everyone believed that her father had “greased the skids” with his money and that she had not really earned her position. She felt that she was constantly being judged by her students, the other faculty, and especially the head of the Chemistry Department, Kazimir Katz. That made her social relationships difficult, to say the least. She expressed the feeling that no one really wanted her for herself, just for her money and her father’s influence. He said the only person who she spoke of with affection was her cousin Nadine.
Burr said that he had not seen Crystal in the previous 2 months and had tried contacting her, but she had not returned his calls. He said that she clearly had a lot of stress in her life, but he did not feel she exhibited signs of clinical depression.
Interview with Dr. Margaret Adderly
Dr. Adderly was interviewed at the Princeton Borough Police Department by Det. Ronald Reston and Det.
Elliot Bloomfield.
Dr. Adderly also was shocked by news of Crystal Valentine’s death. She said that she did not know a lot about
Crystal—that she had come in for yearly exams and for birth control, although she did say that Crystal joked about not having a very active sex life—in fact most of their discussion was about what the best form of birth control would be for her “profile”. They decided on birth control pills.
Dr. Adderly said she had not heard from Crystal in almost a year.
Interview with Dr. Elliot Meggars
Dr. Meggars was interviewed at the Princeton Borough Police Department by Det. Ronald Reston and Det.
Elliot Bloomfield.
Dr. Meggars said that Crystal Valentine was a new patient who had just signed up with his concierge medical practice a few months earlier. He said that she had gotten a routine physical as do all new patients. He said her only complaint was insomnia so he prescribed some sleeping pills.
Interview with Michael Valentine
Mr. Valentine was interviewed at his estate in Far Hills by Det. Ronald Reston and Det. Elliot Bloomfield.
Also present was Andrew Pinnollo, Esq., Mr. Valentine’s attorney.
Mr. Pinnollo told the detectives that Mr. Valentine was overcome by grief and shock, under doctor’s care, and medicated. Detailed questions could be submitted to him in writing through Mr. Pinnollo and detectives would receive a response when Mr. Valentine was fit.
Detectives asked when Mr. Valentine had last seen Crystal. He said not since spring break—that she had said she was busy writing grant proposals and preparing talks for upcoming scientific conferences. She was stressed because several of her grant proposals had been turned down and her latest journal article to Analytical
Chemistry had been rejected.
Detectives asked if Mr. Valentine was aware of any of Crystal’s friends in Princeton. He said that his daughter was very close to her cousin Nadine. He was not aware of any men that Crystal may have been dating recently.
He said that his relationship with his daughter had been somewhat strained because “she was too pigheaded” to realize that money and influence were there to be used. Mr. Pinnollo intervened at that point and told Mr.
Valentine to calm down.
When asked where he was during the previous week he said he had just been released from New York-
Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan where he had been admitted for cardiac evaluation and insertion of several stents and a pacemaker.
Mrs.Valentine was more forthright. She stated that Crystal had ambiguous feelings about the family wealth. She believed that those feelings stemmed from Crystal’s close relationship with her cousin Nadine, her brother’s daughter. The Harts had always struggled financially, and Crystal felt that it was only luck that she had access to so much wealth while Nadine was supported out of Crystal’s family’s charity. Mrs. Valentine said that
Crystal was so protective of Nadine that she had made her the beneficiary on all of her insurance policies.

When asked about Crystal’s romantic relationships, Mrs. Valentine said that Crystal had rarely dated in high school and college, but she was very close to several of her roommates over the years. When police asked for information about those roommates, Mrs. Valentine could not provide any. She said that Crystal had lost touch with many of them given how career oriented they all were. She said she did not know of Crystal having any enemies. They only people who annoyed her were her colleagues in the Chemistry Department with their petty in fighting over publications and who could lure the best graduate students into their research programs.
When pressed about her daughter’s state of mind, Mrs. Valentine said that she worried about Crystal being so much of a loner and that these days the only person she talked about was Nadine. Even though Mrs. Valentine was Nadine’s aunt, she said she always had “reservations” about Nadine who had gotten into a number of
“youthful indiscretions” involving drugs, alcohol and boys.
Synopsis of Interview with Nadine Hart
Interview conducted by Det. Ronald Reston and Det. Elliot Bloomfield on Monday, May 24 3:00 pm at the
Princeton Borough Police Station.
Ms. Hart state that she was the victim’s cousin and roommate and that she had lived with her cousin since she began her graduate studies at Princeton. Ms. Hart stated that when she returned home at approximately 9 am on
Sunday morning, she at first didn’t think anything was wrong. However, when she didn’t hear any answer to her call, she went up to her cousin’s bedroom and found her hanging in the closet. She did not remembering seeing anyone when she walked from the parking lot to the apart.
Ms. Hart said she had spent the previous night with her boyfriend Rob LaRouche who was a graduate student in the Chemistry department. She said she had met LaRouche at about seven pm at the Hibben apartment, and that they had ordered Thai/French fusion cuisine take-out. The picked up the food and then went to LaRouche’s apartment and watched a DVD, “Sense and Sensibility,” one of her favorites but one LaRouche had not seen.
They had then gone for a drive around Lake Carnegie and on local back roads to enjoy the lovely evening. She stated that she thinks they returned to LaRouche’s apartment at around 10:30 pm. They were not up for a late night out with all the seniors carousing with graduation around the corner.
When asked if she knew if Crystal had plans, she said she thought she had mentioned that she was meeting someone, but she didn’t know who. When asked about Crystal’s relationships, Nadine said that Crystal was extremely serious about her career and until she was tenured she did not intend to get involved with anyone.
When asked if Crystal had any enemies, she said that she didn’t really get on with her department head, Dr.
Kazimir Katz, and there was a lot of competition between the untenured faculty over departmental start-up grant money and signing up the best graduate students as research assistants.
The detectives asked if she thought Crystal had been depressed. Nadine said she was—depressed and anxious most of the time. She said that Crystal was drinking a lot to try to deal with her insomnia, but the drinking and the pills were not helping her sleep. She said Crystal would often go running in the middle of the night around
Lake Carnegie to try to calm down and tire herself out.
The detectives then asked if Crystal had ever discussed suicide. Nadine hesitated and then said that Crystal had said things like “you would be the only one who would really miss me if I disappeared.” Then Nadine backed off and said she probably meant that given she wasn’t involved with anyone, she was just lonely.
When asked if anyone else may have had a key to the apartment, Nadine indicated that Rob LaRouche had a key, and that she knew that Carson Craigmore, the manager of the apartment building, also had a key. She noted that she had been “creeped out” when she found that Craigmore had let himself into the apartment one weekday morning when she had slept in late.
When asked if Crystal had any mafia connections, Ms. Hart said she wouldn’t know—she didn’t associate with the family on Crystal’s father’s side. Her father and Crystal’s mother were siblings—the “poor relations.”
Nadine said that she loved her Aunt Georgia but that Uncle Michael was “a real big shit.”

Fingerprints of Victim
Fingerprints of the victim were obtained using a laser scanner during the autopsy
Left Little Left Ring Left Middle Left Index Left Thumb
Right Thumb Right Index Right Middle Right Ring Right Little
Fingerprints of Nadine Hart
Fingerprints of Nadine Hart were scanned using a laser scanner at the Princeton Borough Police Department.
Ms. Hart willingly provided the prints for the purposes of elimination.
Left Little Left Ring Left Middle Left Index Left Thumb
Right Thumb Right Index Right Middle Right Ring Right Little
Criminal Records Search
Police did a criminal records search on Nadine Hart and found that she had a sealed juvenile record. She also had been charged with passing bad checks while in college at Rutgers University, but the case was never brought to trial for lack of evidence.

Fingerprints on Note
The following fingerprints were found on the side of the note with the writing using iodine fuming. The prints were then photographed to preserve them.
Print A Print B
The fingerprint below was found on the back of the note using iodine fuming and then photographed to preserve it.
Print C
Latent Fingerprints on Victim’s Skin
Iodine fuming of the victim’s neck was attempted in an effort to develop prints from the skin but prints with useful detail could not be detected. The medical examiner refused to allow the use of ninhydrin since it would stain the skin permanently.
Addendum to Autopsy
A preliminary examination of the body was undertaken upon its arrival at the morgue at 11:30 am on 5/23. The body temperature was recorded as 84.0 F. Rigor mortis was fully developed. The EMTs had recorded the ambient temperature as 70 F at the apartment.
Allele
D3S1358 vWa
FGA
D8S1179
D21S11
D18S51
D5S818
D13S317
D7S820
D16S539
THO1
TPOX
CSF1PO
AMEL
DNA Profiles
Standard DNA profiles were run on the victim and on her roommate Nadine Hart using buccal swabs for collection.
Crystal Valentine Nadine Hart
Allele 1 Allele 2 Allele 1 Allele 2
18
14
18
16
17
14
18
19
14
14
31
39
15
33
20
11
27
20
11
31
12
5
6
7
16
8
15
7
18
9
15
7
13
10
11
7
25
7
7
7
12
5
6
7
13
10
8
11
26
9
8
9
X X X X

DNA was also collected from the fingerprints on the note.
Allele
D3S1358 vWa
FGA
D8S1179
D21S11
D18S51
D5S818
D13S317
D7S820
D16S539
THO1
TPOX
CSF1PO
AMEL
From fingerprint A From fingerprint B From fingerprint C
Allele 1 Allele 2 Allele 1 Allele 2 Allele 1 Allele 2
18
14
14
18
16
39
17
14
20
18
19
20
17
14
20
18
19
20
15
7
12
5
14
31
16
8
6
7
15
33
18
9
15
7
13
10
11
7
11
27
25
7
7
7
12
5
6
7
11
31
26
9
8
9
13
10
8
11
11
27
25
7
7
7
12
5
6
7
8
11
8
9
13
10
11
31
26
9
X X X X X X