John Ozbilgen was a 29-year-old financial services broker from Freehold Township, New Jersey, whom Monmouth County prosecutors named as the sole suspect in the October 2019 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Parze. He died by suicide on November 22, 2019, before he could be charged with her killing, and Parze’s remains were found nearly three months later in a wooded area off Route 9 in Old Bridge.
Who He Was
Ozbilgen lived on Kings Mountain Road in Freehold Township and had worked in the financial services industry for about seven years, with stints at three Staten Island brokerage firms: Brookstone Securities in 2010, Alexander Capital from 2012 to 2016, and Woodstock Financial Group from 2016 to 2019.1FINRA BrokerCheck. John D. Ozbilgen Individual Summary Woodstock fired him on October 31, 2019, the day after Parze disappeared.2NJ.com. Ex-Boyfriend of Missing Woman Sent Her Angry Texts the Night Before She Disappeared
He had a prior criminal record. In 2010, he was charged with criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance; the sale and felony possession counts were dismissed, and he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree.1FINRA BrokerCheck. John D. Ozbilgen Individual Summary
A Documented Pattern of Abuse
Parze and Ozbilgen were in a months-long, on-again-off-again relationship, during which Parze twice reported him to police for abuse. Both times she told officers she was trying to end the relationship and feared future attacks.3NBC New York. Missing NJ Woman Accused Boyfriend of Abuse Multiple Times
In June 2019, Freehold Township police responded to a report that Ozbilgen had grabbed Parze by the face, pulled her hair, and dragged her. Parze later asked that the charge be dismissed. In September 2019, about five weeks before she vanished, she filed a simple assault domestic violence complaint alleging Ozbilgen had backhanded her in the head and struck her hand, injuring her thumb.4Oxygen. John Ozbilgen Allegedly Bombarded Stephanie Parze With Angry Texts A court hearing on that charge had been set for December 17, 2019.2NJ.com. Ex-Boyfriend of Missing Woman Sent Her Angry Texts the Night Before She Disappeared
Parze was not his only accuser. At a bail hearing, Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlin Sidley told the court that within 2019 alone, three different women had accused Ozbilgen of domestic violence, and that an active restraining order from a prior dating relationship in New York City was already in place against him.2NJ.com. Ex-Boyfriend of Missing Woman Sent Her Angry Texts the Night Before She Disappeared
The Disappearance and the Child Pornography Arrest
Parze, 25, was last seen around 10 p.m. on October 30, 2019, leaving her mother’s home. She drove to her own residence in Freehold Township and sent a Snapchat on the way. When she failed to show up for her nanny job the next morning, family members went to the house and found her car and her phone, but no sign of Stephanie and no forced entry.5ABC7 New York. Wake Being Held for Stephanie Parze After Body Discovered in NJ Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni later said investigators believed she was killed late on October 30 or in the early hours of October 31, 2019.6Fox 29. Funeral Services Set for Stephanie Parze After Body Found in NJ
On November 8, 2019, Ozbilgen was arrested at his Freehold Township home and charged with one count of possession of child pornography, a third-degree crime carrying up to five years in prison.7Oxygen. John Ozbilgen Charged With Possession of Child Porn The charge grew out of a forensic review of his iPhone X conducted as part of the missing-person investigation, which turned up an image of child pornography.8Asbury Park Press. Stephanie Parze’s One-Time Boyfriend Arrested on Child Pornography Further examination reportedly uncovered 10 images depicting the abuse of babies and young girls.5ABC7 New York. Wake Being Held for Stephanie Parze After Body Discovered in NJ
He spent 11 days in the Monmouth County jail. On his release on November 20, 2019, Superior Court Judge Paul Escandon set conditions including weekly check-ins, a ban on alcohol and firearms, and a prohibition on internet use.9NBC New York. Stephanie Parze John Ozbilgen Released Prosecutors described the pornography charge as unrelated to Parze’s disappearance, and throughout this period Ozbilgen was officially designated a “person of interest” in the missing-person case.7Oxygen. John Ozbilgen Charged With Possession of Child Porn
Suicide and the Notes He Left
Two days after his release, on the morning of November 22, 2019, Ozbilgen’s family found him dead at his home on Kings Mountain Road. The medical examiner determined he had died by suicide by hanging, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said it did not consider the death suspicious.10Asbury Park Press. Stephanie Parze Ex-Boyfriend John Ozbilgen Found Dead11CBS News New York. John Ozbilgen Dies of Apparent Suicide
He left behind two handwritten notes. One, addressed to his parents and written on a shopping list, read in part: “I’ve been miserable for so long now, I had enough. … I can’t do life in prison. Most of the stuff you will hear is true, exept the child porn, I would never do that.” He signed it with a smiley face. The second note was addressed to an unidentified ex-girlfriend who had obtained a restraining order against him. In it, he referred to Parze only as “the girl in the news,” called her “a horrible person,” and wrote, “Look @ the mess I created.”12Patch. Parze Ex-Boyfriend’s Suicide Notes
Named as the Killer
On the afternoon of Sunday, January 26, 2020, 87 days after Parze disappeared, two teenage boys walking along Route 9 in Old Bridge discovered human remains in a wooded area less than 15 miles from her family’s home. An autopsy the next morning confirmed the remains were Stephanie Parze’s.13ABC7 New York. Body in NJ Confirmed to Be Missing Woman Stephanie Parze14Asbury Park Press. Stephanie Parze Found
The next day, Gramiccioni held a news conference and named Ozbilgen as the suspect in her murder. He said the suicide note to Ozbilgen’s parents “reaffirmed” his responsibility for the killing and “sealed” the investigators’ conclusion, and that searches of Ozbilgen’s home had produced evidence early in the case. Gramiccioni said no one other than Ozbilgen was believed to have been involved.12Patch. Parze Ex-Boyfriend’s Suicide Notes The notes never disclosed where Parze’s body had been left.15ABC News. Stephanie Parze Found Dead in Jersey Woods Months After Going Missing
The Ozbilgen family disputed the prosecutor’s conclusions through attorney Richard Incremona, who said the family viewed the suicide note as “subject to interpretation” and maintained that Ozbilgen had taken his life because of the child pornography charges, which the family insisted were false. Incremona said the family understood how prosecutors reached their conclusions but did not agree with them.16Asbury Park Press. Ozbilgen Parents Rebuke Claims and Maintain Son Innocent
What Came After
On February 19, 2020, what would have been Stephanie’s 26th birthday, roughly 1,800 people attended a candlelight walk and vigil in Freehold. There, her father, Edward Parze, announced the creation of the Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation, dedicated to education and support for families dealing with domestic violence, sexual abuse, and missing loved ones.17ABC News. Candlelight Walk to Honor Birthday of Woman Killed
The foundation’s flagship initiative, “Stephanie’s Sanctuary,” converts spaces inside police departments into trauma-informed rooms where domestic violence survivors can meet with advocates or officers. Freehold Township was the first department to receive a Sanctuary room, and as of November 2025, Robbinsville became the first in Mercer County to open one. The foundation also runs a 90-minute law-enforcement training session called the “Wide Awake Law Enforcement Presentation.”18Younity NJ. Supporting Law Enforcement Education – The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation Presentation
The family has also been pressing for “Stephanie’s Law,” introduced in the New Jersey Legislature as Senate Bill 2050. The bill would create a publicly accessible domestic violence registry maintained by the Administrative Office of the Courts, listing people convicted of domestic violence crimes, those with final restraining orders against them, and those who have violated such orders. Fiscal estimates put initial implementation at a minimum of $1.5 million.19New Jersey Legislature. S2050 Bill Text As of June 2024, the bill had been heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee.20Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation. SNP Foundation Home