The Citizens Crime Commission has agreed to field calls on their anonymous tipline related to the Farkas case. "Someone knows something, but they're not coming up with information because down there if someone talks, they get shot," Maureen Beail-Farkas said. "Because it's totally anonymous, we're hoping they come forward." Stories of Abe's generosity were well-known through his route in Chester Ð an extra piece of candy for a child or a carton of milk for someone who was short a few dollars that week. Maureen said last Saturday people in the community were again running from their homes hearing the bell from Abe's truck as she drove around the town. The Czechoslovakian-born Farkas named Ladislav by his parents immigrated to the states when he was just 16 years old. He'd hold a variety of jobs over the years, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam before meeting up with Maureen. The couple met at a party where Abe was entertaining a crowd by walking along a clothesline. They headed to Chile as members of the Peace Corps and later both became San Diego police officers. They later settled back on the East Coast, where Abe opened 7-Eleven stores until he gave them up to start his business on wheels 15 years ago. The bus sold everyday items to a city without a supermarket
Family looking for information in murder of Chile RPCV Abe Farkas
Family seeks murder leads
Saturday, March 28, 2009
By Lucas K. Murray
lmurray@sjnewsco.com
CHESTER, Pa. The bell ringing from the big blue and purple school bus of Abe Farkas would bring residents of this poverty-stricken town from out of their homes and off their stoops.
It's a sound they hadn't heard since the cold January evening Farkas, 56, was gunned down while the Gloucester County resident was finishing his daily runs operating his grocery store on wheels.
Last Saturday his wife and children made the rounds once again in hopes of bringing Abe's killer to justice, passing out fliers urging the community's help. They will be out there today as well.
"One woman was there with a 1-month old baby and she was crying because Abe wouldn't get to kiss the baby," Maureen Beail-Farkas said. "He tried to get her not to smoke and by refusing to sell her cigarettes."
Farkas was shot as many as six times in the 800 block of West 5th Street in Chester in the old school bus he converted into a mobile convenience store known as "Abe's Food Express."
The Czechoslovakian-born Farkas named Ladislav by his parents immigrated to the states when he was just 16 years old. He'd hold a variety of jobs over the years, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam before meeting up with Maureen.
The couple met at a party where Abe was entertaining a crowd by walking along a clothesline. They headed to Chile as members of the Peace Corps and later both became San Diego police officers.
They later settled back on the East Coast, where Abe opened 7-Eleven stores until he gave them up to start his business on wheels 15 years ago. The bus sold everyday items to a city without a supermarket.
Farkas died in the very community his wife begged him to leave. The town with a penchant for violence seems a world away from the sprawling farmland in Woolwich Township surrounding the family's homestead.
Farkas' survivors will be back in Chester this Saturday for another rally. His family will be accepting donations to go toward funding a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his killer.
The Citizens Crime Commission has agreed to field calls on their anonymous tipline related to the Farkas case.
"Someone knows something, but they're not coming up with information because down there if someone talks, they get shot," Maureen Beail-Farkas said. "Because it's totally anonymous, we're hoping they come forward."
Stories of Abe's generosity were well-known through his route in Chester Ð an extra piece of candy for a child or a carton of milk for someone who was short a few dollars that week.
Maureen said last Saturday people in the community were again running from their homes hearing the bell from Abe's truck as she drove around the town.
The rally for Farkas will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in the 800 block of West 5th Street. Those in attendance are asked to wear red and to share their memories of Abe.
The Citizens Crime Commission can be contacted at (215) 546-TIPS. Callers do not have to give their name. A conviction from a tip translates to cash, no questions asked.
More information on Farkas' life is available at www.rememberingabe.blogspot.com. Ways to donate to the reward fund are also listed there.
For now, the grieving process for the family goes on. Everyone in the family has been handling their grief in their own way, but they mostly just want their father's killer off the streets.
"Everyone's trying their best and just riding the roller coaster," Farkas said.
