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The disappearance of Stephanie Parze in 2019 led the investigators to her ex-boyfriend, John Ozbilgen, who was found to have multiple domestic violence complaints against him. Ozbilgen met Parze through an online dating website, and the two were in an on-again-off-again relationship before their relationship turned abusive.
Stephanie Parze was suspected to have been killed by John Ozbilgen, and he was subsequently named as the person of interest. While investigators built a case against him, they had him arrested on charges of possession of child pornography. However, John Ozbilgen took his life three days after he was set free on bail.
The Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders episode Hashtag Halloween Horror chronicles the murder of Stephanie Parze as it airs on July 1, 2024, at 9 pm EST. The official synopsis reads,
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"Meet Stephanie a feisty, loveable young woman from New Jersey. Online, she's building a brand as a bespoke makeup and SFX artist. But offline, her life becomes complicated and spirals into mystery when she vanishes into thin air on Halloween Eve."
How was John Ozbilgen arrested?
The decomposed remains of Stephanie Parze were found along Route 9, south of Old Mill Road in Old Bridge Township, by two Perth Amboy teenagers who were on their way to work on January 26, 2020. The authorities identified the remains found in Middlesex County to belong to Parze, and her ex-boyfriend, John Ozbilgen, was named the person of interest.
Per CBS News, the Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced in a press release,
"We identified 29-year-old John Ozbilgen as a person of interest early on in our investigation, based largely on his on-and-off nature of his relationship with Stephanie and a number of social media notifications that we were made aware of."
The suspicion was based on the fact that Stephanie Parze had accused Ozbilgen of assault three months into their relationship and two times in total, per NBC 4 New York. The second incident of abuse took place five weeks before Stephanie Parze's disappearance.
The authorities found out that multiple women had complaints of assault and domestic violence against him, while his ex-girlfriend had a restraining order issued against him.
Where is John Ozbilgen now?
John Ozbilgen, 29, was arrested at his Freehold Township on November 8, 2019, and was charged with possession of child pornography based on his phone records, according to NBC 4 New York. He spent 11 days in jail while he was also named the person of interest in Stephanie Parze's murder case.
Ozbilgen was reportedly granted bail on November 19, 2019, and was not yet charged in connection to Parze's murder. However, Ozbilgen took his life three days later by hanging himself from the garage of his parents.
According to Asbury Park Press, he left behind two suicide notes, wherein he confessed to killing Stephanie Parze but denied the allegations of child pornography. He reportedly mentioned,
"Most of the stuff you will hear is true, except for the child porn."
John's parents, Hakan and Cynthia Ozbilgen, believed their son was innocent. However, they were later found to have been aware of John's involvement in Stephanie's murder through message history on their phones.
Catch all the details of Stephanie Parze's murder as Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders airs on Investigation Discovery on Monday.
