Nine months ago, Clayton was bursting with emotion, buzzing with local and national media and seeking justice for Autumn.
Although the news vans and state police choppers have long disappeared from the borough, the community that launched a massive days-long search for the Clayton Middle School student last fall is still healing, Mayor Tom Bianco said Friday.
“I would say she’s still in the back of everyone’s mind,” he said. “How do you deal with something like that?”
Autumn Pasquale, a borough 12-year-old, went missing in late October, a week before her birthday. The girl’s father, Anthony Pasquale, reported her missing on a Saturday night. By Sunday afternoon, more than 1,000 volunteers checked in at borough hall to help search the town and surrounding neighborhoods for the girl who was last seen on her white BMX bicycle.
That Monday night police had found the girls remains — strangled and beaten — in a recycling container on an abandoned property.
Teenager brothers Justin and Donte Robinson — then 15 and 17 — were arrested and charged with her murder.
Since the Robinsons’ October arrest, court hearings have been ongoing, but almost silenced. The brothers are being processed through juvenile court, which is usually closed to the public and media. The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, which took over the case in February, is preparing arguments for moving the brothers up to open adult court. A waiver hearing date has not yet been set, a spokesman for the office said earlier this week.
Plus, Family Division Superior Court Judge Colleen Maier has a strict gag order prohibiting any parties associated with the case from talking to the press.
As court proceedings quietly press on, borough organizations haven’t been so tight-lipped about honoring Autumn with memorial scholarship fundraisers, and other activities that let her legacy live on.
“Everyone is cognizant that her father and mother are still grieving the loss of their daughter,” Bianco said. “You see Anthony. He’s quiet. You can tell it still pains him.”
The “Autumn’s Light” yard signs, while slightly faded in the winter, spring and summer weather, still line local roads through the borough, and some blue ribbons for Autumn tied around trees are clinging on to their last threads.
“You still see the Autumn T-shirts all over,” Bianco noticed. “I don’t think we’ll ever forget this.”
October is expected to be the roughest patch for the borough. Autumn went missing on Oct. 21, was found dead days later, and her birthday — now proclaimed Autumn Pasquale Day in the borough — falls on Oct. 26.
The community is already preparing for impact on Oct. 26.
Two runs in Autumn’s honor are planned for what would have been her 14th birthday.
The Autumn Pasquale Scholarship 5K Run will start at 9 a.m. at Clayton High School and the Hope For Autumn Color Run starts at 3 p.m. the same day at the high school on East Clinton Street.
“What better way to memorialize her,” said Dan Antonelli, the high school’s assistant principal and athletic director.
The middle school has permanently retired sports jersey #14 — Autumn’s soccer jersey number — in the girl’s honor. During the four years she would have been in high school, jersey #14 will be out of the rotation, Antonelli said.
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Contact staff writer Carly Q. Romalino at 856-686-3655 or cromalino@southjerseymedia.com