Fort Lee Woman Who Said She Was Kidnapped Indicted

By Carly Baldwin
Staff Writer

FORT LEE, N.J. - A borough woman who falsely claimed she was kidnapped in Manalapan last summer was indicted this week by a Monmouth County grand jury.

Marian Petro, 46, called 911 at 6:35 a.m. on Aug. 19. She said she was pulled over in her car and forced into the back seat of another car near the intersection of Route 33 and Sweetmans Lane in Manalapan. She claimed she was held at gunpoint and put into the backseat of a black Mercedes Benz by a black male with dreadlocks.

Manalapan police officers responded but were unable to find the woman, the car or any witnesses to the incident.

That led to a massive police search in and around Howell Township for the next several days, where police from several towns, as well as county, state and federal law enforcement agencies responded in an effort to find her.

Finally, Petro was located Tuesday in a hotel in Willow Grove, Pa., where she was staying with extended family, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said at the time. She was unharmed.

If convicted of creating a false public alarm, Petro faces a sentence of three to five years in prison. It still remains unclear why she called 911 with the made-up story.