Sorry that happen to you. When I use to work in baggage in Cleveland I would try and make sure that any bags that were advanced were taken out to the carousel before the next arrival. I am not sure how it is done in Ewr. The other day i had a connection in ewr and misconnected from phx. When I did arrive in cle I double checked with the office just to make sure my bag did not make the flight that I was originally scheduled for.