M.I.A

The Missing
Karen Zendrosky
Case #: (NCMEC) 968779
Mercer County

Karen Lynn Zendrosky was 16 years old when she was last seen at a bowling alley in Bordentown Township, New Jersey on the evening of October 23, 1979. Some sources state that she was last seen in Hamilton Township. Her parents reported her missing a short time afterwards. The bowling alley no longer exists. Karen is a white female with brown hair and green eyes, 5’2-5’3” in height and 97 lbs at the time of her disappearance. Her date of birth is listed as 9/2/1963. She was last seen wearing overalls and a brown and yellow zip up sweatshirt. She has a scar on her right ear from a previously implanted plastic shield. She once broke her lower right arm. Foul play is suspected in her case and several people have been questioned.
Police worked on the theory that Karen wound up with 2 or 3 men in their 20’s near the Township Pollution Control Facility about a half a mile from the bowling alley. It is not known if she went willingly or against her will. This area was often used as a party spot. Investigators believed that Karen’s remains were buried in a sludge pit that was once used as part of the wastewater treatment plant. Ground penetrating radar detected spots consistent with organic matter, for example, human remains.
 In 2005, the State Police used equipment to “dig away layers of sediment in an area next to the sludge pit,” and they seemed confident that they would find Karen’s remains. After a 3 day search of the area, nothing was found.
Karen’s case is still unsolved.

If you have any further information, please contact the New Jersey State Police at 609-882-2000, extension 2894.

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The Missing
Melissa Diane McGuinn
Case #: (NCMEC) 708328
Mercer County

On March 6, 1988, 7 month old Melissa Diane Mcguinn was last seen at 637 Lamberton Street in Trenton, New Jersey, in the care of Wanda Faye Reed, a 30 year old mentally disabled woman that functions at a level of a 4 to 7 year old child. 

(Photo of Wanda Faye Reed)

 She was a friend and roommate of Melissa’s parents, and had asked permission to take the baby to the downstairs area of the house they shared at the time. Melissa’s mother, Rebecca, consented so she could smoke a cigarette in her bedroom, and Wanda walked away with the baby. 8 minutes later, Wanda returned upstairs with a neighbor, and Melissa was gone. She has never been seen again.
Melissa was last seen wearing white flowered quilted overalls, a dark pink hooded sweater and pink socks. She has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. At the time she was 28 inches tall and 16 lbs.
Rebecca and her husband Robert McGuinn shared a row house with Wanda and her partner and their infant son. The two young mothers grew close. They shared housekeeping chores and fell into a routine of watching each others babies.
Rebecca stated, “Every morning Wanda would come into my room, she would get Melissa and she would take her downstairs and play with her in the living room.” So she was not concerned on the morning of March 6th, when Wanda took the baby downstairs. But minutes later, Rebecca said she heard a commotion outside and became alarmed. She was not aware that the baby had been brought out to the street.  As Wanda enters the home with a neighbor, Rebecca asks “is Melissa with you?” Wanda replied, “No, she’s gone.” The distraught mother ran outside immediately but the child was nowhere to be found.
Wanda told several conflicting stories explaining Melissa’s disappearance. First, she claimed an unidentified African-American man jumped out of a car, knocked her down and took Melissa. When pressed for details, the description of the vehicle the man was driving had changed. She later said instead that she dropped or threw the baby into the Delaware River a few blocks from their home. A third story implicated the neighbor woman who accompanied Wanda back home that day; Wanda said that she gave the baby to the woman in exchange for $200 worth of drugs. 
An extensive search of the Delaware River turned up no sign of Melissa, and it had been discussed that it would have been difficult for Wanda to have walked the distance there and back within the 8 minute time frame. The neighbor whom Wanda claimed had bought Melissa denied having anything to do with the baby’s disappearance, and was cooperative with the investigation, as were Melissa’s parents. 
There was a theory that Wanda harmed the baby because she was jealous. The night before Melissa’s disappearance, there was a party at the house and the guests paid attention to Melissa while ignoring Wanda’s 2 month old son, Jimmy. Wanda allegedly had two other children who had been placed for adoption sometime prior to 1988.
2 days after Melissa went missing, Wanda was charged with kidnapping. There was no physical evidence, and she was found incompetent to stand trial and the charges were dropped in December of 1989. Wanda was then sent to live in a facility for mentally disabled individuals. She now lives with relatives in Louisiana.
Melissa’s family moved to Arkansas after her disappearance. Her father passed away in 2008, but her mother and two brothers are still alive. Rebecca traveled to New Jersey in 2011, took a polygraph about her daughter’s disappearance and passed, so she was ruled out as a suspect in the investigation. 
In 2012, the “Time” Magazine featured a story that brought forward a possible match for Melissa in Iowa, an adopted girl of the right age who has no birth certificate. At this time, the State Police were seeking a DNA sample from her, to match to Melissa’s DNA from a blood sample taken at the hospital where she was born, but no other information has been brought forward since then.

(Rebecca, Melissa’s mother)

Melissa’s case remains unsolved.

If you have any further information, please contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or the Trenton Police Department of New Jersey at 1-609-989-4155.

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The Missing
Jan Andre Cotta
Case #: (NCMEC) 1005685
Monmouth County

Jan Andre Cotta was 19 years old and 5-7 months pregnant when she was last seen at her family’s home in Wall township, New Jersey on June 26, 1973. Jan is a white female, 5’4” and 125 lbs with brown hair and blue eyes and has a mole near the left side of her mouth. She was last seen wearing blue Land Lubbers brand jeans, a white shirt with a blue design on it, brown loafers, and she was carrying a round tweed purse. She was also wearing a plain gold ring with the initials “JAC” and a gold ring set with a blue topaz birthstone and two diamonds. Her date of birth is listed as 03/26/1954. Jan may go by the alias name Jane Andrea Cotta. She is asthmatic and may also have epilepsy. She suffered temporary hearing loss due to measles when she was a child and had to wear a hearing aid for 3 months, but she overcame her deafness. She has also previously fractured her left wrist and lower left arm when she was 17 or 18 years old when she fell from a horse. She is club footed on her left foot and the foot would turn inward when she was tired. She also has a lazy eye that would droop when she was tired or getting a cold. Jan’s teeth were in poor condition at the time, as she had no dental work.
Jan had last been seen inside a barn tack house on her family’s property in the Allenwood section of Wall Township. Her brother Brian and a friend saw her some time between 11:30 p.m and midnight. A vehicle was heard driving away from the farm and afterwards, Jan was nowhere to be found. Her mother reported her missing the next day. She has not been heard from again.
Jan is the oldest of 8 children and is described as an avid equestrian who won awards in riding competitions. She was active in 4-H and was elected president of the “Jumping Brook Riders 4-H Club”. She attended riding classes at the Morven Park International Equestrian Institute in Leesburg, Virginia and the Princeton Riding Academy. She wasn’t involved with drugs and didn’t drink alcohol at the time of her disappearance.
The identity of Jan’s unborn baby’s father is not known. She wrote a letter to God before she went missing and referred to the baby’s father, but she didn’t say his name. In the letter she stated she was giving three of her favorite horses to a friend. Investigators believe she left of her own accord, at least initially. 
In August of 1973, a newborn baby was found abandoned in a mailbox on a horse farm in Jefferson Township, NJ. The farm belonged to the friend that Jan gave her horses to, and the baby was born around the same time Jan’s baby was due. DNA tests however, disproved the theory that this was Jan’s child. 
Jan’s parents have since passed away in the years following her disappearance, but her siblings are still searching for her. 

If you have any further information, please contact the Monmouth County Crime Stoppers confidential telephone tip line at 1 800 671 4400 or the Wall Township Police Department at 732-449-4500.

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The Missing
Anastasiya Ovetsky
Case #: (NCMEC) 867881
Middlesex County

Anastasiya Ovetsky was 16 years old when she was last seen on July 19, 1999 in East Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. She is a white female with sandy blonde/strawberry hair and Hazel eyes. She was 5’3” and 140 lbs at the time of her disappearance. She has her tongue and ears pierced. She often went by the nickname “Ana.” Ana also has a birthmark on her leg. Her date of birth is listed as 8/14/1982. She is native of Ukraine and speaks Russian. Ana’s teeth have some fillings and her four wisdom teeth are impacted. She may have traveled to New York City. She had a driver’s permit but no car and no credit cards/money.
Her case is still unsolved.

If you have any further information, please contact the East Brunswick Police Department at 732-390-6900.

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The Missing 
Kevin Sabir Barthrop
Case #: (NamUs) 1208664
Union County

Kevin Sabir Barthrop was just 2 years old when he was last seen near his home on the 100 block of Chilton Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Saturday, June 12, 1999. There are no available pictures of what the toddler looked like at the time, but there is a composite sketch of what he may look like as an adult. Kevin is described as an African American male with black hair and brown eyes, and was 2’2-3’0 in height and 30-35 lbs at the time of his disappearance. His date of birth is listed as May 6, 1997.
Kevin lived with his mother and another adult female at the time. Law enforcement was not notified of Kevin being missing until 2012 when a tip came in that he was not accounted for and has not been seen for some time. When police spoke to his mother, she admitted that he had disappeared thirteen years earlier. A missing persons report was filed at that point. No one that officers spoke to would say if Kevin had died. 
Investigators think people who may know what happened to Kevin are currently living in Essex County, NJ, Union County, NJ, and North Carolina. 
Foul play is suspected in this case, but there are very few details available.

If you have any further information, please contact Prosecutor’s Office Sgt. Michael Manochio at 908-966-2287 or Sgt. Janet Lopez at 908-347-8491.

The Missing
Larry Sabel
Case #: 210465826
Mercer County

Larry A. Sabel was last seen on October 20, 2021 at the Amani House in Trenton, New Jersey. He is a 62 year old white male, 5’10” in height, 220 lbs with gray hair and hazel eyes. He is more commonly known as Dr. Larry Sabel from the Sports Wellness & Chiropractic Physician of Princeton. 

The Missing
Francheska & Misheila Martinez
Case #: (NCMEC) 888232 & 917531
Passaic County 

Francheska

Misheila

Francheska Sugel Martinez was 12 years old when she was last seen in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey on June 9, 2000. She ran away from her home the day before her 13th birthday (June 10). Her twin sister, Misheila, stated they were in their home at 17th Avenue and East 22nd Street at around 10 a.m, when Francheska said she was going to the store. Misheila stated she saw her sister walking towards the store from their kitchen window.
When the girl’s stepfather came to the store a few minutes later, he found that Francheska had never arrived there. At 1:30 p.m, Francheska called home and spoke to Misheila, saying she was with friends at the Great Falls on the Passaic River. She asked her sister not to tell anyone, and then hung up. She has not been heard from since. Francheska is a Hispanic female with braces on her teeth at the time of her vanishing. She has brown hair with brown eyes, 4’5-4’7 in height and 110-120 lbs at the time. She has a mole on her right breast and a discoloration on her left arm. She was last seen wearing a blue denim miniskirt and a pink sleeveless blouse. 
Francheska told friends that she wanted to attend the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan, New York on June 11. It is unclear whether she ever arrived there. Her friends have also reported that she was dating a 22 year old man that her family did not know about. 
A few days after her disappearance, the clothes that Francheska had been wearing on the day she vanished, minus the shoes, were found in a supermarket bag in the driveway outside of her mother’s house, undamaged.
On July 22, 6 weeks after her twin sister disappeared, Misheila had also vanished. She left a letter for her mother, chastising her for not loving their stepfather and for alleged infidelity in the marriage. The letter also stated that the girls were unhappy at home. Their mother claims she was not having an affair with anyone at this time.
Misheila is a Hispanic female with brown hair and green eyes. At the time she vanished, she was 4’7-5’1 and 100 lbs. She has a freckled complexion, a mole on her buttocks and a small scar near her nose. She was wearing a ring with a small stone in the center. Both girls are of Puerto Rican descent. 
A possible theory is that the twins both left of their own accord and may be traveling together, possibly in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn or the Bronx. There are also theories that the girls are victims of human trafficking. 
Another theory is that the girl’s stepfather, Hipolito Miguel Corniel, was involved. A few months after Francheska and Misheila disappeared, Hipolito killed a young woman and served a 17 year sentence for the crime. He was released in 2017. The girl’s brother believes one of his sisters was pregnant with Hipolito’s child in 2000, but there is no evidence to support this.
Many agencies classify the sisters as runaways. Their disappearances remain unsolved.

If you have any further information, please contact the Paterson Police Department at 973-881-6800.

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The Missing
Hector R. Harris
Case #: 21-38384
Cumberland County

 Hector Harris was 42 years old when he was last seen walking away from his home, located off of N. East Avenue in Vineland, New Jersey on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. He has not been seen since. He is a Hispanic male, 5 ‘3 – 5’ 5” in height, 140-150 lbs with brown eyes and black hair with a salt and pepper colored beard. He has tattoos all over his body, including a heart on his chest and his daughter’s name, Ella, on his neck. He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, camouflage shorts and red/gray Nike brand sneakers. He was in possession of a black backpack at the time he disappeared. One source indicates that Hector was going through some sort of mental health crisis.

If you have any further information, please contact the Vineland Police Dispatch at 856-696-1212, or the Vineland Police Department at 856-691-4111.

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The Missing
Ruben Wilson
Case #: I-20-13283
Bergen County

Ruben Wilson was last seen on May 27, 2020. He was last seen in the area of Palisades Avenue and Teaneck Road in Englewood, Bergen county New Jersey. He is a black male, 68 years old, 6 feet tall, around 240 lbs, with brown eyes. He has no hair on the top of his head, but his facial hair is gray. He was last seen wearing burgundy colored pants and a NY Yankees cap. His date of birth is listed as 7/26/1951. 
Ruben suffers from Dementia, and according to family, he had wandered off multiple times before. He was once discovered in Englewood Cliffs with his dog. Another time, when Ruben had a vehicle, police found him in Wall Township, 67 miles away from his home. On the day he disappeared, Ruben left home early in the morning. He did not wake his son, Shalom Kennedy. It was a routine that he and Shalom would get up every morning at 8:30 to get coffee. But on this day, Shalom got up at 6:30, and his father was gone. At first, he figured his father had gone to the local 7-Eleven for coffee by himself, but the store employee had not seen him.
During dissociative episodes, Ruben always talked about needing to go to work. There is a theory that he may have found his way to Paterson, where he used to work at the Department of Transportation for 30 years. His son believes he may have mixed up with the city’s homeless population. Another theory is that Ruben may have gotten on a bus or convinced someone to give him a ride to North Carolina, where he grew up.

If you have any further information, please contact the City of Englewood Police Department Detective Bureau at 201-568-4875.

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The Missing
Dulce Alavez
Case #: 19-40624
Middlesex County

Dulce Maria Alavez was 5 years old when she was last seen on September 16, 2019 playing on the swings with her 3 year old brother Manuel at Bridgeton City Park, in Bridgeton New Jersey. He returned to his pregnant mother, Noema Alavez Perez, who had been sitting in the car about 30 yards away, helping her 8 year old sister with her homework. Her son was alone and crying, pointing to the direction of nearby buildings, and Dulce was nowhere to be found.
 Noema had taken her children to the park to play after the family had stopped at a local convenience store to get ice cream. There is surveillance video that shows Dulce inside the store wearing a yellow shirt with an elephant on it. Noema was told by others at the park that Dulce and her younger brother had been confronted at the playground while they ate their ice cream. “They said somebody threw my son’s ice cream on the floor and my daughter just ran away,” Noema was heard on the 911 call describing what others had told her when she went looking for her daughter. 
Noema called family members to come help her search for the girl, then police were notified and an extensive search began. Over 100 police officers were part of a search party who looked in the nearby woods, but they found nothing.
Investigators believe that an unknown male may have led Dulce into a red van with tinted windows at around 4:20 P.M. Witnesses say that this man was light skinned, possibly Hispanic, between 5’6-5’8 with a thin build, no facial hair and acne on his face. Police said he was wearing orange sneakers, possibly Nike brand, red pants and a black shirt.
One week after Dulce’s disappearance, the FBI placed Dulce on its “Most Wanted List” of kidnapped and missing children. NJ Governor Phil Murphy urged anyone with information to step forward without fear of consequences due to their immigration status.
“This is about finding Dulce safe and sound, period.”
In October of 2019, authorities released a sketch of a different man described as a “person of interest” who had been seen at the park with two children under the age of 5. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a white baseball cap.

In the time since Dulce vanished, her mother has been vocal about her grief and the family’s hope that the girl will be returned. She also has answered doubts and rumors about whether the family may have somehow been involved in the kidnapping.
During an appearance on the Dr. Phil talk show in December of 2019, Noema addressed police suspicion toward her family and said she had been given a polygraph test. She also said she believed it was possible that her daughter was targeted by an “old friend” who was “trying to get to” her. Police later said there was “no substantial evidence implicating the individual named.” Noema said she felt remorse for letting her children go to the playground by themselves while she remained in the car. There were no cameras in the area to capture what happened at the park. “It gives me bad memories because I wish I could go back in time and come with her to the park and not leave her alone,” she said. “I would say I’m sorry for not looking over her.”

-Noema Alavez Perez

Investigators had to deal with several false leads in the case, including rumors that Dulce had been spotted in Ohio in March of 2020.
 FBI special agent Daniel Garrabrant said, “The offender that took Dulce was likely there for a period of time. It was a crime of opportunity. They were looking for a child.”
 Edgar Perez, her father, who lives in Mexico, posted a video on YouTube in April to mark Dulce’s seventh birthday. The video shows footage of himself with Dulce, and talks about his sadness over her disappearance. Edgar was deported from the United States in 2018. The FBI has previously interviewed him and described him as cooperative, and he has not been named a suspect.
If Dulce Alavez is still alive, she is now 7 years old. 

If you have any further information, please contact the Bridgeton Police Department at 856-451-0033.
You can also call the FBI’s Toll-Free Tip Line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) and select option 4, then select option 8, or submit an anonymous tip to the agency online.
If you speak Spanish you can call 856-207-2732.