Body Of Missing Island Heights Woman Found: Sources

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ — Josette Lata spends time every day on her paddleboard peacefully taking in the view from the Toms River.

On Tuesday, her trip from Pine Beach to the mouth of the Toms River and back was interrupted by the sight of a body along the shoreline.

The body was that of Karen McKenna, who had gone missing in Island Heights early Monday morning, sources confirmed.

Lata told Patch she was on the return portion of her 8-mile paddle loop about 8 a.m. Tuesday when she saw McKenna's body on the shore in Good Luck Point. She called 911 and alerted authorities to where she was by sending them a map with her location pinned.

Good Luck Point is at the very eastern end of the mouth of the Toms River, where the river empties into Barnegat Bay. It is marshland, not a place where land vehicles can travel.

"I stayed with the body one hour until they could get to me," Lata told Patch. "I was near the old ATT building in Ocean Gate but it is all swamp, so I told them to come by boat."

Lata said New Jersey State Police finally were able to reach her by Zodiac.

McKenna went missing about 4 a.m. Monday from Island Heights, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Searchers looked for McKenna all day Monday, with helicopters from the New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard searching up and down the Toms River for any sign of her, to no avail.