Ex-Bayonne woman killed with bullets to head wrestled with cocaine addiction, says friend

woman-shot-dead-defazio.JPGHudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, left, and a homicide detective are at the scene where a woman was shot dead this morning on Logan Avenue near Wright Avenue in Jersey City.

The woman who was shot dead early Thursday morning in Jersey City's Marion Section has been identified as a former Bayonne resident who was staying with a friend in the Marion Gardens housing complex while she wrestled with cocaine addiction.

"It's been rough," said Charles Johnson, of Dales Avenue, who for the past two years opened his home to Susan Clericuzio, 43, formerly of Avenue A in Bayonne. "She was a mess and honestly, I thought she was a person who deserved better things."

Police responding on a 911 call of shots being fired on Logan Avenue near Wright Avenue at 4:30 a.m. found Clericuzio lying face down next to a garbage can at the front of an alleyway between two buildings, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

She had been shot multiple times in the back of the head, DeFazio said.

Johnson, 63, said Clericuzio was originally from North Bergen and had a 22-year-old son. He said she moved to Bayonne in the 1990s but in 2007 she "lost her job, her apartment, everything," as a result of her cocaine addiction. She got to know Johnson through a co-worker who lived upstairs from him, he said.

Johnson said Clericuzio had been out of work for two years and her father died seven months ago.

"She was a nice person and she didn't bother anyone, she was just an addict," said Johnson, who learned about Clericuzio's death when police showed up at his home and searched it. "No woman deserves to be done like that. What could she have done?"

Clericuzio was pronounced dead at the scene. She was fully clothed and wearing a fleece jacket, blue sweatpants and black boots, DeFazio said, adding there was no wallet, purse or identification on the body. Homicide detectives have not determined a motive for the murder and no arrest has been made.

A crumpled $20 bill was found beside Clericuzio's hand.

Investigators tentatively identified Clericuzio Thursday but did not release her name then because her next of kin had not been notified.
