http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051202/NEWS02/512020419/1070Missing and presumed dead
Dover man's disappearance puts family in legal limbo
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/2/05
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP — Every day, Jacqueline Fabiano kissed her husband goodbye and told him she loved him.
But since their final kiss goodbye early on the morning of Oct. 2, before he went on a recreational scuba-diving trip, she has found that they were not prepared for the unexpected.
Christopher "Lou" Fabiano, 52, of Dover Township, is missing and presumed dead.
Although he went into the ocean 13 miles off Point Pleasant Beach with three other divers, he never came up. An intensive search followed, but after a time it was called off.
After the initial shock and feelings of loss set in, his wife and soul mate of almost 25 years faced a new problem. Without a death certificate, there is little she can do. Her husband had a $10,000 life insurance policy, but without a death certificate it is of no use to her, she said.
Jacqueline Fabiano, 46, and her husband have two daughters, JoAnna, 20, and Melissa, 23, both in college. Melissa attends Monmouth University while waitressing at The Cabin on Route 33 in Howell; JoAnna is attending William Paterson University in Wayne.
The Fabianos had recently moved to Dove Street after Christopher Fabiano had purchased their first home.
The mortgage is in his name, Jacqueline Fabiano said — but without a death certificate, she cannot legally have the ownership of the house transferred to her. She has begun working a second job; her husband was a carpenter at Foodarama Shop Rite in Freehold. She is a licensed hair stylist, and received her real estate license just before her husband went missing.
"We didn't have things in place because we thought we were going to be together forever," she said. "I actually learned how short life is."
She turned to the Ocean County Surrogate's Office, which referred her to an attorney, she said.
The family wanted to have a memorial service, but soon found that it was not possible without a death certificate. That was when close friends suggested holding a benefit for her, and she could participate in helping to make it a celebration of his life. The benefit is planned for Saturday.
Christopher Fabiano grew up in Howell. He was nicknamed "Lou" as a teen by an adolescent girlfriend, and to his oldest friends, he is known as "Lou." Newer friends, such as his co-workers, knew him as "Chris," said Nancy Fish, 46, of Jackson, who has been friends with Jacqueline Fabiano since they were in seventh grade.
Rod Cunliffe, 53, a childhood friend of Christopher Fabiano, owns The Cabin in Howell and his friend helped him build it, he said.
"He was the kind of guy who struggled all his life," Cunliffe said. "He was all about family. He was putting his kids through college and he just bought his first house four months ago."
"We want to help these girls," Cunliffe said. "They are financially strapped. He was the breadwinner, and life is not easy now."
"He wouldn't want a fuss," Cunliffe said. "He would actually be mad at us. I miss him terribly."
"There are so many people who have come forward" to help her, Jacqueline Fabiano said. "I want to thank them all. There are a lot of things I have to be thankful for in the middle of all this. I am thankful for our friends. And there are so many generous people."
