Missing Toms River Woman Found Dead In Snow: Police

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An elderly Toms River woman who went missing in the midst of the nor'easter was found dead in the snow early Thursday morning, Toms River police said.

Police dispatchers received a call at 4:30 a.m. Thursday that the 87-year-old woman, who lived at the Oak Grove Mobile Home Park, was not in her home, relatives told the dispatchers, said Ralph Stocco, spokesman for the Toms River police department.

The woman, whom he did not identify, suffered from dementia and from Alzheimer's and had last been seen by relatives around midnight, Stocco said.

A large-scale search by Toms River police, East Dover Fire Company firefighters and East Dover First Aid squad members, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Division was undertaken as the snow continued to fall, Stocco said.

"Regrettably, at 6:20 am, the woman was found deceased in the snow about a mile away from her home," he said.

The cause of death is not immediately known, however investigators do not suspect any criminal activity at this time, Stocco said.

Photo via Toms River Police Department