A 12-year-old New Jersey girl's estate is claiming local police failed to follow the correct procedures in their 2012 search for her, therefore "failing" the murder victim and her family, reports the South Jersey Times.
The estate, which is comprised of Autumn's father, Anthony Pasquale, and her two siblings, filed suit against six municipalities, three Clayton Police officers, the state police, and the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, stating they failed to utilize "adequate law enforcement techniques."
Autumn Pasquale was reported missing on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. Her body was found two days later, stuffed into a recycling bin on an abandoned property adjacent to the home of 15-year-old Justin Robinson, who later pleaded guilty to her murder. She was strangled the day she disappeared, according to autopsy reports.
The lawsuit, filed in Gloucester County's Superior Court, claims law enforcement should have implemented the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) — a "multi-disciplinary approach to responding to missing or abducted children" — as soon as Autumn was reported missing, rather than the next day. It also claims local and state police refused assistance from Joseph Nicholas, a retired law enforcement investigator.
