10 Years Later, Rowan Student's Death Still A Mystery

A decade after a Rowan University student was killed in a Homecoming Weekend assault, Donald J. Farrell III lights up digital billboards around New Jersey, as he did in his family’s life for his 19 years.

Farrell, of Boonton, was killed on Oct. 27, 2007. near Rowan's Triad Apartment building, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office reminded residents this week.

Clear Channel Outdoor, a digital billboard company, this year has continued to display information about the homicide, as well as the $100,000 reward associated with the case.

The billboards show a phone number for tips (856-307-7180) and the MyPD app for providing information anonymously. Clear Channel is placing the messages at New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware as a public service.

His killer or killers are still being sought. The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office and the Rowan University Police Department continue to investigate the case.

On the day he was killed, witnesses say Farrell was approached by four or five black males who asked him for directions to a party. Farrell was then punched and kicked in the head and neck by one or two of the males before the group fled with his wallet.

Farrrell died the next day from a ruptured artery in the neck. One person in the group wore a distinctive Coogie hoodie that was identified on security camera video from a nearby convenience store. It is also believed that the hoodie-wearer used a nickname, "Smoke.”

"With so many people involved, they may not stay friends forever," Lt. Langdon Sills, of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, told a 2011 Rowan journalism class working on what they called the Donnie Farrell Project.

Sills was one of the original investigators of the case, and continues to look for leads in the homicide, believed to have been a random act and probably not about robbery.

Students researched and wrote articles about the Morris County sophomore lacrosse player's life and death. Their work was posted on thedonnieproject.com.

A retired homicide detective the Farrell family asked to review the case agreed with Sills about partners in crime.

"You have multiple people involved. Time becomes your friend. The thing we have on our side is that relationships change," James Gannon told the Rowan students. "Someone's going to pick up the phone."

Patch file photo