Camden Courier-Post, August 25, 1951View transcription
Camden Man Found Shot to Death in Bellmawr
Gas Hose Leads Into His Car; Held Weapon
By J. HERBERT PHILLIPS
Leonard Buffetta, 32, of 604 Point street, a checker for a Camden supermarket, was found dead at dawn today in an isolated field near Timber creek in Bellmawr.
Police Chief James Garrity, of Bellmawr, listed the death as suicide.
According to Patrolman George Dott's roport to Garrity, the motor of the car was still running when he found it at 6.30 a. m.
The interior of the car was filled with monoxide gas, still pouring through a strip of garden hose, attached to the exhaust pipe.
Weighted Accelerator
“To make certain he'd do a good job of it,” said Garrity, “Buffetta had weighted down the foot accelerator with a lug wrench. There was still half a tank full of gasoline in the 17-gallon tank, when Dott discovered the car.”
Dott said on his rounds at 5 a. m., the car had not been in the field, some 200 yards up the narrow lane from Creek road.
Coroner Robert J. Blake, who examined the body, said he would order a post-mortem to determine whether Buffetta died from suffocation or bled to death from the self-inflicted wound.
Revolver in Hand
And in the right temple of the body, slouched on the rear seat of the auto, was a bullet from a .32 calibre revolver in the right hand of the dead man. Under his left hand was the hose.
Within half an hour, Garrity learned that Buffetta at 6.30 p. m., Friday was embroiled in an argument with Bernadette Eshelman, 17, of 181 Lawnside avenue, Collingswood.
Police reported the girl accused Buffetta of brutally beating her, before she fled from his car, abandoning her unopened pay envelope issued that afternoon from another supermarket, where she, too, is employed as a checker.
Snapshot in Purse
The girl's name was drawn into the case when police found her handbag, containing a few dollars in cash, the unopened pay envelope, bearing the name Eshelman, and a figure indicating the envelope contained $30.80; and a snapshot of two girls, one of them, possibly Bernadette, Garrity said.
The body of Buffetta lay in the morgue of the West Jersey hospital. His bloodstained car was parked in the hospital yard, held for examination by Camden county detectives.
Garrity, after interviewing the 17-year-old Eshelman girl at her home, said she was in a highly nervous state.
“The girl told me Buffetta beat her up.” Garrity reported. “Her eye was blackened and she had other bruises.
“She told me she left Buffetta's car in Westmont, after he had picked her up at work, and Buffetta drove on, with her handbag.
Calls Her Brother
“The girl called her home and hysterically told her brother what had happened.
“The brother drove to Westmont, put his sister in his car, and took her home.”
Here the stories of Collingswood police and Garrity differ slightly.
Patrolman Kenneth Crane, on the desk of the Collingswood police station, told the Courier-Post he had heard the girl's “family tried to locate the man” Friday night, after they heard Berndatte's story.
Had ‘Family Conference’
Garrity said the girl insisted today a “family conference” had decided that Buffetta would be questioned by the Eshelmans “tomorrow” . . . that is, today.
Edwin Eshelman, the father, works nights, Garrity said, and is not due home until 2 o'clock on Saturday mornings.
Bellmawr's police chief said he would turn over further investigation of Buffetta's background to county authorities.
Garrity, however, added that the Eshelman girl admitted she had been meeting the older man for “some time” after he finished work in Camden, and she was through for the day at the
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Body
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counter of the Collingswood supermarket, where she works.
First Date, Girl Says
Bernadette a few hours after police talked with her, consented to a telephone interview with the Courier-Post.
“I first met Leonard when I was a sophomore at high school in Camden, two years ago. His sister, Ann, and I were friends,” she said.
“Chief Garrity says I had been meeting this older man for a long time . . . or met him several times. I had no chance or desire to meet him. I had no romantic interest in him. I just regarded him as a friend, because he acted nice to me.
“He came around to the store where I work a lot of times but yesterday (Friday) was the first time I'd ever been out with him.
‘Going to Take Me Home’
“If this story is going to get into the papers, it should be correct. I'd never had a date with him before. I'd never been out with him alone before,” insisted the girl, who graduated from Camden Catholic High school last June.
“Where were you going last night?” Bernadette was asked. “Where was he going to take you last night?”
“He was just going to take me home,” the girl responded.
War II Veteran
According to a sister of Buffetta, Louise, 24, Leonard, who would have been 33 years old in September, was a veteran of War II, having served in the Army from 1941 to 1946.
Unmarried, Buffetta had not been known by his family to be romantically involved with anyone, his sister said.
Louise told the Courier-Post she was mystified by the police discovery of a gun in the car.
Although Leonard had been in combat areas of the Pacific theatre during War II, for more than three years, he had never owned a gun, his sister said, nor were any weapons ever kept at the Buffetta home.
Got Calls From Girl
Buffetta lived with his parents, at the Point street address, his sister, Louise and another sister, Ann, 17.
Ann, about the same age as the Eshelman girl, was a friend of the Collingswood girl, Louise declared.
Others in the Buffetta family are two married brothers, Theodore, 36, and Enrico, a year or so older than Leonard. A younger brother, Columbus, is single but lives away from home.
The married sisters of the dead man are Mary and Gloria, whose husbands' names were not revealed by Louise.
“He was very, very happy at home,” sobbed the sister. “I can't understand why he would do a thing like this. He had no romances . . . though he did get telephone calls now and again from a girl.”
Leonard's father, Louis, works in an auto plant in Chester, Pa., where he learned of the tragedy and started for home. The mother, Florence, was reported near collapse.
Mrs. Edwin Eshelman, mother of the girl, told the Courier-Post her daughter was a graduate of the Camden Catholic High school.
Bernadette, her mother said, is also one of a large family; with three sisters and three brothers.
Gas Hose Leads Into His Car; Held Weapon
By J. Herbert Phillips
Leonard Buffetta, 32, of 604 Point street, a checker for a Camden supermarket, was found dead at dawn today in an isolated field near Timber creek in Bellmawr.
Police Chief James Garrity, of Bellmawr, listed the death as suicide.
According to Patrolman George Dott's roport to Garrity, the motor of the car was still running when he found it at 6.30 a. m.
The interior of the car was filled with monoxide gas, still pouring through a strip of garden hose, attached to the exhaust pipe.
Weighted Accelerator
“To make certain he'd do a good job of it,” said Garrity, “Buffetta had weighted down the foot accelerator with a lug wrench. There was still half a tank full of gasoline in the 17-gallon tank, when Dott discovered the car.”
Dott said on his rounds at 5 a. m., the car had not been in the field, some 200 yards up the narrow lane from Creek road.
Coroner Robert J. Blake, who examined the body, said he would order a post-mortem to determine whether Buffetta died from suffocation or bled to death from the self-inflicted wound.
Revolver in Hand
And in the right temple of the body, slouched on the rear seat of the auto, was a bullet from a .32 calibre revolver in the right hand of the dead man. Under his left hand was the hose.
Within half an hour, Garrity learned that Buffetta at 6.30 p. m., Friday was embroiled in an argument with Bernadette Eshelman, 17, of 181 Lawnside avenue, Collingswood.
Police reported the girl accused Buffetta of brutally beating her, before she fled from his car, abandoning her unopened pay envelope issued that afternoon from another supermarket, where she, too, is employed as a checker.
Snapshot in Purse
The girl's name was drawn into the case when police found her handbag, containing a few dollars in cash, the unopened pay envelope, bearing the name Eshelman, and a figure indicating the envelope contained $30.80; and a snapshot of two girls, one of them, possibly Bernadette, Garrity said.
The body of Buffetta lay in the morgue of the West Jersey hospital. His bloodstained car was parked in the hospital yard, held for examination by Camden county detectives.
Garrity, after interviewing the 17-year-old Eshelman girl at her home, said she was in a highly nervous state.
“The girl told me Buffetta beat her up.” Garrity reported. “Her eye was blackened and she had other bruises.
“She told me she left Buffetta's car in Westmont, after he had picked her up at work, and Buffetta drove on, with her handbag.
Calls Her Brother
“The girl called her home and hysterically told her brother what had happened.
“The brother drove to Westmont, put his sister in his car, and took her home.”
Here the stories of Collingswood police and Garrity differ slightly.
Patrolman Kenneth Crane, on the desk of the Collingswood police station, told the Courier-Post he had heard the girl's “family tried to locate the man” Friday night, after they heard Berndatte's story.
Had ‘Family Conference’
Garrity said the girl insisted today a “family conference” had decided that Buffetta would be questioned by the Eshelmans “tomorrow” . . . that is, today.
Edwin Eshelman, the father, works nights, Garrity said, and is not due home until 2 o'clock on Saturday mornings.
Bellmawr's police chief said he would turn over further investigation of Buffetta's background to county authorities.
Garrity, however, added that the Eshelman girl admitted she had been meeting the older man for “some time” after he finished work in Camden, and she was through for the day at the counter of the Collingswood supermarket, where she works.
First Date, Girl Says
Bernadette a few hours after police talked with her, consented to a telephone interview with the Courier-Post.
“I first met Leonard when I was a sophomore at high school in Camden, two years ago. His sister, Ann, and I were friends,” she said.
“Chief Garrity says I had been meeting this older man for a long time . . . or met him several times. I had no chance or desire to meet him. I had no romantic interest in him. I just regarded him as a friend, because he acted nice to me.
“He came around to the store where I work a lot of times but yesterday (Friday) was the first time I'd ever been out with him.
‘Going to Take Me Home’
“If this story is going to get into the papers, it should be correct. I'd never had a date with him before. I'd never been out with him alone before,” insisted the girl, who graduated from Camden Catholic High school last June.
“Where were you going last night?” Bernadette was asked. “Where was he going to take you last night?”
“He was just going to take me home,” the girl responded.
War II Veteran
According to a sister of Buffetta, Louise, 24, Leonard, who would have been 33 years old in September, was a veteran of War II, having served in the Army from 1941 to 1946.
Unmarried, Buffetta had not been known by his family to be romantically involved with anyone, his sister said.
Louise told the Courier-Post she was mystified by the police discovery of a gun in the car.
Although Leonard had been in combat areas of the Pacific theatre during War II, for more than three years, he had never owned a gun, his sister said, nor were any weapons ever kept at the Buffetta home.
Got Calls From Girl
Buffetta lived with his parents, at the Point street address, his sister, Louise and another sister, Ann, 17.
Ann, about the same age as the Eshelman girl, was a friend of the Collingswood girl, Louise declared.
Others in the Buffetta family are two married brothers, Theodore, 36, and Enrico, a year or so older than Leonard. A younger brother, Columbus, is single but lives away from home.
The married sisters of the dead man are Mary and Gloria, whose husbands' names were not revealed by Louise.
“He was very, very happy at home,” sobbed the sister. “I can't understand why he would do a thing like this. He had no romances . . . though he did get telephone calls now and again from a girl.”
Leonard's father, Louis, works in an auto plant in Chester, Pa., where he learned of the tragedy and started for home. The mother, Florence, was reported near collapse.
Mrs. Edwin Eshelman, mother of the girl, told the Courier-Post her daughter was a graduate of the Camden Catholic High school.
Bernadette, her mother said, is also one of a large family; with three sisters and three brothers.
