BREAKING: Missing Lacey Woman's Body Found Floating In Creek: Police Chief

by Patricia A. Miller

The body of a 72-year-old woman reported missing on Thursday night was found floating in the south branch of Stout's Creek early this morning, Police Chief David A. Paprota said.

A Winthrop Drive resident saw Kuo Chun-Mei Tsai's body in the creek at daybreak and called police at 6:24 a.m. the chief said.

Tsai was reported missing from her Winthrop Drive home in Forked River on Thursday night. Lacey police and the Ocean County Sheriff's Department K-9 units, and a New Jersey State Police helicopter began the search after family members notified authorities. Neighbors in the area said she was seen walking with her cane on Constitution Drive that evening, the chief said.

The woman's four-point cane was found on a dock at the south branch of the creek at the end of Cabot Street. Hundreds of residents saw her walking between 4:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. where she was last seen, near the dock at the south branch of the creek, Paprota said.

Her family told police that she did not understand or speak English, only Chinese, and had only moved into the area from Weehawkin since October 2015. She was unfamiliar with the area and had "significant" mobility problems, the chief said.

Detective Kymberly Gudgeon of the Lacey Township Police Department is handling the investigation with the assistance of the Ocean County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU), Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, and the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office, Paprota said