N.J. OFFICIAL DENIES THERE WAS INQUIRY

Author: James Asher, Inquirer Trenton Bureau

A spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice denied yesterday that an inquiry ever existed regarding the Camden County Prosecutor's Office's handling of the 1975 investigation into the death of the son of Haddon Township Mayor William G. Rohrer.

Citing an internal memorandum from the division, The Inquirer reported yesterday that a "corruption investigation" was opened Dec. 3, the same day that Mimi Rohrer, the mayor's wife, was indicted for murder in the death of their adopted son, Billy, 2 1/2.

The document details the assignment of a lawyer from the division and an investigator from the New Jersey State Police. A source familiar with the investigation yesterday reconfirmed the accuracy of the memo and said that discussions about the corruption inquiry had been conducted with officials within the state police.

The division spokesman, Thomas Cannon, said yesterday that his department had been unable to find a copy of the memo and that division prosecutors had ''never opened a case file" into the initial Camden County investigation.

In the four-month investigation in 1975, the county prosecutor's office concluded that the boy had died of "accidental and self-inflicted" injuries.

The latest inquiry into what a state law enforcement official referred to in a separate memorandum as a "cover-up" was suspended until after Mrs. Rohrer's trial, which is scheduled for September, the source said.

Cannon said yesterday that prosecutors "said there is no investigation. Maybe there were discussions, I'm not certain. They didn't deny there was such a memo."

In its account yesterday, The Inquirer cited investigative reports and internal memorandums prepared by the state in 1982 and by the county in 1975 that raised questions about the conduct of the county's 1975 investigation.

These reports and memorandums alleged that there had been inaccuracies in investigative reports by the county prosecutor's office. They also said that material witnesses had never been interviewed and that the county files did not contain a report submitted by an expert on child abuse cases who concluded that Billy Rohrer's wounds were not accidental.