Murder triggers calls for bath salt crackdown

CRANFORD (WABC) -- An over-the-counter spa product is at the center of a murder case.

A 22 year old man appeared before a judge today charged with killing his girlfriend.

His family says he was high on bath salts. The claim has caused lawmakers to crackdown on the designer drug.

The victim's family is broken.

The writing on a pillow in Werner Schmidt's home reads "a daughter is just a little girl who grows up to be your friend." It's not just a saying on a pillow. It's a feeling in his heart. It's how he felt about his oldest daughter, Pam, who was about to graduate from Rutgers University with so much life to live.

Her body was found in the basement of a Cranford home on Sunday, the same home where her boyfriend lives with his parents.

Bill Parisio is now charged with her murder. He faced a judge in Elizabeth today.

While he sits in jail, Pam's family remains in shock and tremendous grief. Werner recalls a conversation he had with Pam a week ago, she was with friends and he called her pumpkin, what he always called her, when her friends walked away.

"Maybe I shouldn't call you pumpkin anymore," Werner said and Pam replied, "No daddy, you can call me pumpkin for the rest of my life."

He remembers her so much now, like the time he told Pam that Bill wasn't good for her, in and out of rehab and in trouble with the law.

"I said 'You are so beautiful and smart. You can do better than him, and he is so troubled.' She said, 'Daddy, I think I can help him,'" said Werner.

That was Pam, but a long time battle with drugs and alcohol would prove too much. Parisio's mother says the legal substance called "bath salt" made her son lose his mind.

A 23-year-old musician we spoke to said he has used "bath salt" as he showed us in a container.

"It's a rush, like a cocaine high, but then you crash and have anxiety," said musician Ian Carlin. A feeling he didn't like.

He says he wouldn't do it again, and thinks it should be made illegal. So do several New Jersey lawmakers proposing legislation to do just that.

But for Pam and her family, it will be too late.

"I can be as angry as I want at this man, but it doesn't matter. It won't bring my pumpkin back," said Carlin

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