Joanne Delardo was 15 when she disappeared from a church recreational event in Woodbridge, New Jersey on December 13, 1974, along with 14-year-old Doreen Carlucci. Their disappearances were initially treated as runaways by the Woodbridge Police Department. On December 27 their bodies were found in a wooded area in Manalapan, more than twenty miles from where they were last seen.

The discovery revealed both girls had been beaten and strangled with an electrical cord. Joanne’s ligature was reported still knotted around her neck. Their bodies were partially unclothed and the clothing they had been wearing that day was never recovered. For many years Robert Zarinsky was a primary suspect because aspects of the killings resembled other cases tied to him; he was never charged in these murders. Richard Cottingham has also been examined in connection with similar unsolved cases.

The double homicide remains officially unsolved. Anyone who knew Joanne, Doreen, or their movements on December 13, 1974, is asked to come forward with information.