Lacey Police Respond To Report Of Screaming Woman In Marshes

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - Lacey police and other agencies searched marshes and woods for three hours recently after they received reports of a woman screaming for help, but found no one, Police Chief Michael C. DiBella said.

Officers Julie Barcalow and Anthony Sarno responded to the 1000 block of Montauk Drive in Forked River at 4:52 p.m. on Jan. 16 on a suspicious incident report. The caller told police she heard a female screaming for help in the marshland across the lagoon from her home, DiBella said.

A short time later, police received another call from a man in the 400 block of Cedar Drive in Lanoka Harbor who said he heard a woman in distress in the marshland behind his home, the chief said.

Police, members of the Lanoka Harbor Fire Company, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, the state Forest Fire Service, and the NJ State Police Aviation Division searched the marsh and wooded areas in between Cedar Drive and Montauk Drive for three hours, DiBella said.

The areas were searched with an infrared and thermal imaging drone and a helicopter. No one was located and no further reports were received, the chief said.

Image: Lacey Township Police Department