Months after her disappearance, Parze funeral will be Friday

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The funeral for Stephanie Parze, the 25-year-old woman whose body was found Sunday after going missing 87 days ago, will be Friday.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said Monday that ex-boyfriend John Ozbilgen, who killed himself before he was ever charged in connection with her disappearance, was the only person responsible for her death.

The news that Ozbilgen was more than just a "person of interest" and that he had left a suicide note admitting his role in Parze's death came less than a day after her body was found in a wooded area along Route 9 in Old Bridge. Investigators have not yet confirmed how Parze was killed.

Edward Parze, Stephanie Parze's father, posted on his Facebook page "with a heavy heart" about services for his daughter, for whom he had organized numerous searches since her disappearance.

A viewing will be 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday at St. Rose of Lima Chapel on Freehold and the funeral will be 10 a.m. Friday at St. Rose of Lima Church on McLean Street.

Stephanie Parze's sister, Brianna, used her Facebook page to ask for pictures of her from every stage of her life.

Edward Parze said his family will create the Stephanie Parze Foundation to bring awareness to battered women and missing people.

"It's an epidemic," Parze said during a news conference on Monday.

Her decomposing body was noticed by two teens walking along Route 9 on Sunday afternoon, according to acting Middlesex County Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberik.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ