Lacking Clues, Authorities Continue Year-Long Search for Missing Morris County Man

By Linda Sadlouskos (Patch Staff)

Police, family and other searchers have now spent a year looking for 55-year-old David Bird.

What they know is this: At about 4 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2014, he told his wife he wanted to go for a walk during a break in the rain, left his cell phone at home charging, but apparently took his wallet, and apparently headed to the trails of the Hicks Tract in Long Hill Township in Morris County.

And there, for now, the trail ends.

The search continues for the veteran Wall Street Journal reporter, according to NJ.com. Authorities have followed up on several leads, as well as reports of sightings that turned out to be false, Police Chief Michael Mazzeo told NBC’s Today Show.

In a segment on Sunday morning, Mazzeo said detectives are ready to check any new information about the case. Nancy Bird, meanwhile, talked to NBC and CBS 2, to talk about life for her and her two teenaged children.

“The number one thing that keeps me going is my children. They are the reason I get up every day and function,” she told NBC. In the CBS 2 report, Nancy said, “I relive January 11 every day and I’m hopeful that my community will also relive that day and something will jog their memory.”

The publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, is offering a $10,000 reward for information about Bird, according to NJ.com.

A year ago, a diving team from Morris County plumbed the Passaic River looking for Bird, and found no trace, Police Lt. Ahmed Naga said early Tuesday evening. The team out of Morris County was headed up by Parsippany search and rescue squad, one of the many organizations that have been part of the search.

Updates on the Long Hill Township’s Facebook page said that foot searches, the K-9 dog units, mounted patrol, helicopter, airplane water and dive teams had been out - but found nothing.

A year ago, the helicopter and other searches, many volunteers, were at Pond Hill Road in Bernards Township, on the Long Hill border, for about two hours.

Because Bird had a liver transplant nine years ago, all hospitals in the tri-state area have been contacted, the lieutenant said. So have police organizations and jails, since the effect of not taking medication may have been disorientation, Naga said. But he said there really is no guarantee how the sudden halt of the medication may have affected Bird, he noted.

Bird’s description also is on a national police database, he added.

But none of those efforts have turned up a trace of Bird, Naga said.

“We really have nothing other than the last direction of travel, which was toward the Hicks Tract,” Naga said. He said that property had been searched, and re-searched on foot, by helicopter and had turned up nothing.

Naga said none of the financial cards in Bird’s wallet apparently had been used, either.

Bird is described as 55 years old, 200 pounds, and 6 feet, 1-inch tall, and was wearing a red jacket, blue jeans, sneakers and glasses when he reportedly left his home in the Millington section at 4 p.m. on Saturday to take a walk. The description said he often walks the Hicks Tract in Millington.

The entrance to the Hicks tract is at the end of Knollandale Road, in Long Hill.

The Long Hill Township Police Department is investigating the missing person reports, and asks that anyone has any information please contact the Incident Command Post at 908-647-1800, option 1, extension 236 until further information is posted.

Naga added there have been no events in Bird’s life — such as a death, job loss, or diagnosis of illness — that might have led to him becoming upset. As far as police know, the married family man has a loving wife and two children, who gave no indication of having a reason to disappear, Naga said.

On the Facebook page, the police department offered thanks to township business that have donated and continue to donate food and drinks for searchers. “It is greatly appreciated. They are searching some difficult terrain and the food and drinks are welcome refreshments,” the Facebook post says. The businesses noted as of Tuesday morning include:

Millington Station Café

Shop Rite of Stirling
Starbucks
Kings Supermarket
Dunkin Donuts
Natales Pizza
Biagio’s Bakery of Stirling