The Missing
Lorraine Herbster
Case # (NCMEC) 1158939
Burlington County
Lorraine Rae Herbster, more commonly known as Lori, was just 17 years old when she disappeared on Friday, March 9, 1979 from Westampton Township, Burlington County New Jersey. She is a white female that was 5’4” tall and weighed 125 lbs at the time. Lori has brown hair, green eyes, and pierced ears. Her date of birth is listed as January 16, 1962.
She was last seen wearing a white coat sweater with a 6 inch long brown or beige design and a hood folded over the back, a belt tied in the back, a blouse, blue jeans, knee high socks and brown hiking boots size 8 1/2. She was also wearing a diamond or brown quartz cats eye ring and a thin gold chain necklace. It is unknown if she was wearing earrings. She was carrying a large reddish-brown suede shoulder bag with a zipper on the top.
On the day she vanished, Lori left her new job at Microcircuit Corp. at 4:00 p.m. She was a photo lab technician and had only been working there a week. Her co-worker dropped her off at the corner of Beverly-Rancocas Road and Holly Lame in Westampton Township, less than one mile away from her home, 12 Whitlow Drive in Mount Holly’s Tarnsfield housing development, saying she could walk the rest of the way home. Lori’s mother had offered to drive her to the bank to cash her paycheck and open her first account after she arrived home. She was last seen at 5:15 p.m while walking to her house by a witness in the neighborhood. She apparently never arrived there, but her purse was found in her front yard. Her car was at the home; she wasn’t driving it because she didn’t have her license yet. She was due to babysit for one of her neighbors that night, but never showed up for that either.
Lori seemed to like her new job and was looking forward to getting her drivers license. Before she disappeared, she dropped out of Burlington County Vocational and Technical School in her junior year. She had also been engaged to be married, but she broke up with her fiancé around Christmas of 1978.
Police, along with friends and family, do not believe that Lori left of her own accord, since she left all of her personal belongings behind, including her paycheck. All of Lorraine’s family members, friends, and ex-boyfriends were interviewed, but all of them were cleared from suspicion. Authorities couldn’t determine any reason why someone would want to harm her.
After she vanished, there were persistent rumors that Lori was murdered and her body was dumped at a local construction site. Police were never able to substantiate the stories.
There is one person of interest in her case, but this individual has never
been charged due to lack of evidence.
Lori’s parents moved to Alabama, stating it was too painful to stay in their home.
Her disappearance still remains unsolved.
(I highly recommend taking a look at Lori’s findagrave page that I have linked in the sources below, it is extended and in depth.)
If you have any further information, please contact the Westampton Township Police Department at 609-267-8300.
Sources:
https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1158939
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/4585
https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2018/09/13/lorraine-herbster/ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/230012232/lorraine-rea-herbster
M.I.A 
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