Family photograph of Sharon Serball, who was fatally stabbed in her Elizabeth apartment.
Rene Ann Serball and Elaine Ann Connor hold a picture of their mother, Sharon Serball.
Richard Gill, 20, is charged with murder, felony murder and burglary in connection with the fatal weekend stabbing of Sharon Serball in her apartment.
ELIZABETH — Sharon Serball enjoyed cooking and loved animals, her family said.
Last weekend Serball, 50, was in her Elizabeth apartment when she was attacked and fatally stabbed by an assailant who also stabbed the woman’s pet Maltese Yorkie, Paris. The dog survived.
On Sunday, police arrested Richard Gill, 20, at his home on Atlantic Street in the city, about three miles from Serball’s apartment building on North Avenue. He was charged with murder, felony murder and burglary for the fatal stabbing.
“I hope they find whatever zoo this animal escaped from, because only an animal could do what he did to her and the dog,” said Orville “Kenny” Connor, Serball’s companion of more than 22 years, and the father of her youngest daughter, Elaine Ann Connor, 22. Serball had another daughter, Rene Ann Serball, 30, who refers to Connor as her stepfather.
Sharon Serball lived in the apartment with Orville and Elaine Ann Connor, but on Friday, Serball was home alone with the dog, who she often called “Poopa.” Orville Connor was out with friends and their daughter stayed at a friend’s house that night.
Authorities say the next morning one family member came home to find Serball unresponsive in the bedroom. Police were called to the apartment at about 10 a.m. Saturday, but Serball was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said the attack occurred at least two hours before she was found.
Police seized numerous sharp objects and knifes from the apartment, but have not identified the weapon used in the assault, authorities said.
Orville Connor took the pet to a veterinarian, where it received several staples to close wounds, he said.
Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said Serball and Gill knew each other, but declined to give details of how they became acquainted.
Connor and the two daughters said they were told by police not to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
They recalled their mother’s cooking, including a favorite pasta, chicken and sausage dish call “shut-up-and-eat.”
“We’d go to the supermarket and she knew everyone in the supermarket by name,” Orville Connor said.
Serball grew up in Linden. She learned to drive a truck from her father, who drove tractor-trailers for a living, the family members said. Serball has also worked other jobs in past years, but then became a homemaker, her daughters said.
“She had a great sense of humor,” Rene Ann Serball recalled.
The family requests that donations be made in Serball’s memory to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Gill is being held at the Union County jail in Elizabeth on $1 million bail.
Police ask anyone with information about the case to call Elizabeth police Detective Thomas Koczur at (908) 558-2048 or police Detective James Szpond at (908) 558-2041.
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Article source: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2013/12/companion_of_slain_elizabeth_woman_calls_suspect_an_animal.html