4 Years Later, Murdered Diner Owner Remembered As 'Relentless'

A murderer took the life of Chafic “Steve” Ezzedine, the owner of Kenvil Diner, in May 2011.

What the criminal couldn’t take was Ezzedine’s storied past, filled with hard work, success, and triumph.

On May 28, 2011, in the middle of Memorial Day Weekend, Ezzedine was found murdered in his diner. Four years later, the person behind the slaying is still on the loose with an investigation continuing between the Roxbury Township Police Department and Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

Marking the four-year anniversary, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office released more information about Ezzedine’s past; how the Lebanese emigrant came to be a successful New Jersey businessman and raise a family.

The following is information supplied by the Prosecutor’s Office, explaining more about the man’s 40 years in the United States.

“Steve was a simple, hard-working family man, and a family patriarch, who left a rich and fulfilling life in Lebanon over 40 years ago, to come to the United States to be with the woman he loved - his wife, Amal. One of six children, Steve completed university in Lebanon and was enjoying the beginnings of a promising career with Middle East Airlines when he met Amal in 1970. Due to religious differences, Amal and Steve’s relationship was forbidden by society and frowned upon by their family and friends. As they secretly continued their relationship, Steve made a courageous decision to move to the United States in hopes of someday being able to marry the woman he loved. Before leaving, he told Amal that someday he would send for her to come join him in the United States.

Steve departed Lebanon in 1971, leaving behind his family, friends, and successful job to start a life in America. He located to New Jersey, where he worked at a diner and enrolled in a Master’s program to continue to build on his education. After more than a year of long days, hard work, and weekly letters to Amal, Steve finally sent for her to join him in the United States. Although the decision was not supported by family, Amal left Lebanon in 1972.

In the beginning, the two struggled, living in a motel room as Steve continued long days of work and school. Amal, not having many friends or family in New Jersey, and not knowing the English language, spent much of her time isolated in the motel room. Despite this hardship, the two married in October 1972. There began a union marked by the struggle to not only earn a living, but to also assimilate into a new society, start a family, make new friends, and ultimately become productive members of the community they came to call home. They dealt with the scrutiny of the family they left behind in Lebanon, knowing that their decision to leave their country to be together was brave, but not accepted. At the time, they knew in their hearts and minds that this was the only way they could be together.

Steve and Amal started a family, eventually having three (3) sons. In 1983, after many years of hard work, the couple purchased the business that became the Kenvil Diner. For years, Steve worked tirelessly at the diner to provide for his family, consistently working 16 hour days, 7 days a week, up until the day of his murder. Amal was there throughout it all, working countless hours in the diner alongside the love of her life. Together they raised three (3) hard working, successful young men, who struggle daily with the loss of their father. It is through his memory and inspiration that they strive to live as honorable a life as he did.”

A reward of $25,000 remains for any information leading to the arrest and prosecution of anyone responsible for the murder.

A website by the name kenvildiner.com has been created as a memorial for Ezzedine as well. Anyone with information about the murder is asked to contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 973-285-6200 or the Roxbury Police Department at 973-448-2090.

Pictured: Chafic Ezzedine. Photo Courtesy Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.