- July 10, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
Palisades Park police cracked a pair of cold-case burglaries after the results of a DNA test on a soda can led them to a familiar face from a neighboring town.
Officers responding to a break-in at what was then the Happy Diner on Broad Avenue in 2018 found a damaged and emptied cash register outside the Honey Pig Bossam next door, Detective Sgt. Alex Monteleone said.
They contacted the owners of both businesses, one of whom reported finding an iPad and $100 missing – along with a soda can that had been left on a counter, he said.
Sgt. Sean Cotrrell secured the can, which was sent to the New Jersey State Police DNA Laboratory.
After three years, police recently got word that a match was found.
James Joseph Vietzen, 36, of Ridgefield has a criminal history that began soon after he turned 18. That fall, he and two others hit a Ridgefield man with a bottle and robbed him in Leonia. He was charged with first-degree robbery…
