A Long Walk Home: A Young Woman’s Unsolved Murder and Her Sister’s Lifelong Search for Answers

On the evening of November 3, 1966, 17-year-old Carol Ann Farino, a pretty, popular high school student left work at Milt’s Cup & Saucer in Maplewood, New Jersey, a small town just 10 miles west of New York City and began her regular walk home.

She never made it.

Her dead body was found just a half-mile away, strangled with her own stocking and with signs of attempted sexual assault. Oddly, her purse and shoes were missing. For more than 50 years local police have been unsuccessful in their investigation, following hundreds of leads, interviewing dozens of friends and family and trying to determine who did this brutal crime and why.

But the other victim of the killing is Carol’s younger sister, Cynthia. Only 11 years old at the time, she has carried emotional scars, uncertainty, and pain from the ordeal for decades.

A Long Walk Home tells the story of this vicious killing, the decades of searching for answers, and some apparent missteps by law enforcement. Joe Strupp, a seasoned reporter of more than 30 years, has covered criminal cases and true crime for years. He delves into Carol’s background, who might have killed her, and how the killing affected Carol’s younger sister, who is still asking questions today.

The story spans the dark world of sex-related crimes that involve some of the most notorious twisted minds as well as botched police work and even psychic investigations into the mystery.

“…shines meaningful light on the life and death of a young woman whose murder has never been solved… True crime, well and truly told.” -Daniel Paisner, author of A Single Happened Thing