Nearly eight years after his murder, police continue to search for a group of men who beat a New Jersey college student to death.
On October 27, 2007, four to five men attacked Donald Farrell III, a 19-year-old sophomore and lacrosse player at Rowan University, during the school’s homecoming weekend.
The group approached Farrell near the Triad apartments at the school’s Glassboro, New Jersey, campus and began to punch and kick him. While police initially believed robbery was the motive, they now suspect it was a random attack. Farrell died the day after the assault from a ruptured artery in his neck.
Police said one of the suspects in the attack was captured on surveillance video from a nearby Glassboro convenience store wearing a red-and-gray Coogie hooded sweatshirt and a Yankees baseball cap. The hoodie is in limited production and sold in North Jersey and New York retailers. Rowan’s opponent during the 2007 homecoming football game was Montclair State University, which is located in North Jersey.
Police also said the suspect went by the nickname "Smoke." At the time of the murder, he was described as a 5-foot-7 black male between the ages of 20 and 24 with medium complexion, rounded facial features, braided hair, thin mustache and light goatee.
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Police are still offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest and conviction in Farrell’s death.
In 2011, students in an investigative journalism class at Rowan University spent a semester studying the case, researching interviews and documents. Their findings were compiled in the Donnie Project, a website with extensive information on Farrell's murder.
If you have any information, please call the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-384-5604 or the Rowan University Police Department at 856-256-4564. You can also leave an anonymous tip by texting GLOTIP and your message to CRIMES (274673).
