Julia “Julie” Madsen, 72, NJ - Missing since 6/25/09

[2NJSons_Mom]

I had read a little about this shortly after Julie went missing, then saw nothing and hoped she'd been found.  That, unfortunately, was not the case. 

********


Family offers $25,000 reward for missing woman
Wednesday, July 8, 2009       
 BY JUSTO BAUTISTA     NorthJersey.com    STAFF WRITER
CLIFTON — The family of a 72-year-old city woman who disappeared two weeks ago after telling her husband she was going for a walk on a beach in Ocean County is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.

Julia “Julie” Madsen has a mild case of Alzheimer’s disease, but she’s “not at the point where she gets lost or forgets people,” said her husband Ed Madsen, a former Bergen County restaurant owner.

The couple was at their summer home in Berkeley Township on June 25 when Madsen told her husband she was going for a walk on the beach, and what should have been a week of celebration — they just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and Julia’s birthday — turned into a family nightmare.

At 7 p.m. that night, the family reported her missing, sparking a manhunt by local, state and county police, firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard. Local officials have asked the FBI for assistance.

“A lot of agencies are working hard,” said Lt. Laurie Cahill, the officer in charge of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Missing Person Unit. On Wednesday, canine units searched the beach again, but came up empty.

“What’s maddening about it is they searched every place 10 times, [Island Beach State Park], under the boardwalk from Seaside Park to Ortley Beach, and there are ‘missing’ signs all the way up to Sea Girt,” Ed Madsen said. The family has praised the search efforts.

“I got a call from the [Berkeley Township] chief of police and the chief of the fire department. &hellip They said, ‘We’re not giving up,’” said Ed Madsen, his voice choking with emotion.

Julia Madsen left the house without keys, money, identification or a cellphone.

“The ocean hasn’t given her up &hellip She should be alive out there, and I’m going to do everything I can to find her,” said a son, Guy Madsen, a software executive who has taken a leave of absence from his job to devote time to the search.

Madsen — 5-feet-6 and 175 pounds — was last seen wearing a pink shirt, white pants and white sneakers. She had a silver bracelet on her left wrist and a silver watch on her right wrist.

E-mail: bautista@northjersey.com
 
Find this article at:
http://www.northjersey.com/breakingnews/Family_offers_25000_reward_for_missing_woman.html 
 

[MuffyBee]

Thank you for bringing this case to light, 2NJ.  I hope Julie will be found soon.  I can't fathom what her family must be going through.

[califmom]

Prayers for Mrs. Madsen and her family!!  Hope she is found safe and sound.   

[Nut44x4]

Still missing



Family searching for missing grandma
Thursday, July 09, 2009 STAR-LEDGER STAFF
Family members of Julia Madsen, a 72-year-old Clifton woman who vanished near her summer home in Berkeley Township, yesterday said they are posting a $25,000 reward for any information leading to her safe return.

"The big question is, Âre is Julie?'" Madsen's son, Guy Madsen of Clifton, asked in announcing the reward yesterday, two weeks after his mother went missing. "It's just baffling. As a son, I'm just struggling with this whole thing."

Police said Julia Madsen, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was last seen wearing a bright pink shirt, long white pants and brown leather shoes around 7 p.m. on June 25. Family members said yesterday that Madsen left her beach house in the township's South Seaside Park section without her keys, money or any form of identification.

Madsen's husband, Edward Madsen, 74, reported her missing at 9 o'clock that night when she did not return from a walk along the beach near the couple's 22nd Avenue home, according to Berkeley Township Sgt. James Smith.

"She said Â?ey, I'm gonna go for a little walk on the beach,' and that was the last time I saw her," her husband said.

According to her family, Madsen has shown signs of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss over the past four years. While they believe her condition was worsening in recent months, her son and husband said she always returned from her late-evening walks on the beach.

"She knew her name, she never got lost, she started forgetting some things -- but the family pulled together around her," her son said.

Madsen stands approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds, according to Smith.

Guy Madsen said the family firmly believes the mother of two and grandmother of three is still alive. He said police told him if she had drowned in the surf, her body would have washed up within four to seven days.

A throng of rescue officials, including State Police aviation units, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Ocean County Sheriff's Department, launched a search after Madsen was reported missing, but it was discontinued three or four days later, according to the family.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office became involved in the investigation on June 25, but police said the situation is still being treated as a missing person's case. Berkeley Township police were unable to comment further yesterday.

The situation has been heartbreaking for Edward Madsen, who recalls celebrating the couple's 50th anniversary and his wife's 72nd birthday just days before she went missing.

"I just want her back alive," he said. "I don't care about anything else."

Anyone with information about Julia Madsen's whereabouts is asked to call Berkeley Township police at (732) 341-6600. James Queally may be reached at (973) 392-4136 or jqueally@starledger.com.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1247111799153780.xml&coll=1

[Lovinlife]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/rescue_group_that_investigated.html

Rescue group that investigated Natalee Holloway disappearance to aid in search for Clifton woman
by James Queally/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday July 15, 2009, 10:39 PM


BERKELEY TOWNSHIP - A rescue group that has been involved in high-profile missing persons cases has been called in to help find a Clifton woman who vanished last month after leaving her Shore home for a walk, an official from the organization and the woman's family said tonight.

Members of Texas Equusearch, which assisted in the Natalee Holloway case, are joining about 200 state and local law enforcement agents today to search for Julia Madsen, 72, who disappeared three weeks ago in Berkeley Township, organization founder Tim Miller said last night.

At 6 a.m. tomorrow, Equusearch members, along with officers from the State Police missing persons unit and Berkeley police will search Island Beach State Park, where Madsen told her husband she was going for a walk on June 25.

Miller, along with Madsen's son Guy Madsen, said they are preparing for the worst as they put forth every effort to find her.

"You rip away a part of yourself with something like this," Guy Madsen said today. "There is a piece missing, so we just need something. We've had a tremendous amount of help and effort from so many people. I just want to find my mom."

Miller is a former business contractor who founded Equusearch in August 2000. The impetus was the loss of his own 16-year-old daughter, who went missing in the 1980s in North Galveston County, Texas, and was not found for 17 months. Police determined the teen had been abducted and murdered.

"I remember every minute of that 17 months, I remember how alone and helpless I felt, and I made a promise to God that I'd never leave another family alone like that," Miller said. "I can look back and say 'You know what, Laura, your death wasn't in vain.'"

Madsen, who has Alzheimer's disease, left her summer home in Berkeley's South Seaside Park section around 7 p.m. on June 25. She told her husband Edward, 74, she was going for a walk in the area of Island Beach State Park.

"She said 'Honey I'm gonna go for a little walk on the beach,' and that was the last time I saw her," Edward Madsen previously has said.

Police have said Madsen was last seen wearing a bright pink shirt, long white pants and brown leather shoes.

She left her 22nd Avenue summer home without her keys, money or any form of identification, according to her son.

State Police officers conducted polygraph tests on immediate members of the family last week, but Guy Madsen said they "passed with flying colors" and are not being treated as suspects.

"Obviously in cases of missing persons they always look to the family first," he said. "They were very gentle and understanding, but they asked us to submit (to the test) and we voluntarily did."

Miller said State Police Capt. Jack Donegan reached out to Equusearch last week. He said his team has dispatched drone airplanes over the area to record high-resolution images.

"We're getting images of things as small as a Styrofoam cup down there, so if she is not 100 percent under the brush, we will be able to pick her up," Miller said of Madsen.

Equusearch gained media attention for its involvement in the 2005 search for Alabama high school student Natalee Holloway, who went missing in Aruba, and its role in helping police solve the 2007 slaying of Jessie Marie Davis in Waco, Texas.

Madsen's family is offering a $25,000 reward for any information leading to her safe return. Guy Madsen said the agonized family is hopeful for her return, and for answers.

"We want her home, her grandchildren want her home," he said. "One way or another."


This search is TODAY!  Prayers that Julie will be found!!!

[pink angel]

Jul 16, 2009 5:59 pm US/Eastern
Search Heats Up For Missing N.J. Mother
Reporting
Hazel Sanchez
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) ―


There's not a single trace of 72-year-old Julia Madsen.

Madsen disappeared on a beautiful, calm, clear night on June 25. Madsen walked out her front door around 7 p.m. about 50 yards to White Sands Beach and hasn't been seen since.

For three weeks, Guy Madsen has been desperately searching for his missing mother, who is also in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The search intensified on Thursday with a massive hunt from the air and on the ground.

"And until somebody can prove to me that she's dead," Guy Madsen told CBS 2, "I as a son have to believe that she's alive."

Around 70 people, including local and state police, K-9 teams plus dozens of volunteers combed through Island Beach State Park near Madsen's home.

Police also enlisted Tim Miller and his high-tech search company Texas EquuSearch, who helped with the Natalee Holloway case in Aruba. In the '80s Miller's daughter went missing for 17 months before her body was finally found.

"I think I took a sigh of relief when my daughter's body was found at least now I knew," Miller said. "And this family wants to know and we just want to do everything we can do and bring everything we can to assist to hopefully bring some closure to this family."

Sgt. James Smith said they'll continue to search, but the signs aren't looking so good.

"At this point we're at a loss here," Smith said. "We just don't have any answers and that's the most frustrating, heart wrenching thing for a family."

Julia Madsen had just celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary.

Madsen's son says she was very happy, and he won't stop searching until she's found.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/julia.madsen.alzheimers.2.1089060.html

Prayers that she will be found!

[2NJSons_Mom]

There doesn't seem to be anything new, but I found that I missed this article while away this past weekend for a bit.

 

July 17, 2009


Search expands for missing woman

By MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
STAFF WRITER

Hundreds of people have joined in a search to find 72-year-old Julia Madsen, who vanished June 25 after an evening stroll on the beach in South Seaside Park. Initially, the searchers hoped to find her alive. Now, they hope to offer closure to her family.

Search teams have assembled with law enforcement and volunteers in a near-constant effort to find the woman who was reported be in an early stage of Alzheimer's disease.

Recently, a national group was brought in to help. State Police Detective Sgt. John Donegan contacted Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch, an organization involved in searching for Natalie Holloway, an American woman whose sensational disappearance in Aruba has never been solved.
Donegan said he called Miller for advice on conducting a search over terrain like Island Beach, and Miller volunteered to come to New Jersey.

The search efforts have been exhaustive.

In addition to combing nearly every inch of Island Beach State Park, authorities have collected hundreds of aerial photographs using a photo-equipped drone plane. Their efforts have led them to believe that she is not on Island Beach State Park property.

"It was an amazing effort, and an impressive show of support," said the missing woman's son, Guy Madsen.

Madsen left her son's home on 22nd Avenue in South Seaside Park section of Berkeley the evening of June 25. Madsen's husband, Ed, was in the house when she said she was going out for a walk. Less than an hour later, Ed Madsen began looking for his wife and authorities became involved.

Berkeley police, the Ocean County sheriff's and prosecutor's offices, volunteers from fire companies, the Red Cross, the Central Jersey Search and Rescue and the New Jersey Park Police all have assisted in the search for her since her disappearance.

Photographs from the drone aircraft will be analyzed further in San Diego, where they will filter out colors and look specifically for the color pink, the color of the pants Madsen was wearing on the night she left, Donegan said.

They likely will go back and search those areas again. The State Police also put a cadaver-search dog on a boat to try to catch a scent in the wind off the bay, Donegan said.

Ginny Guilani, 50, went to high school in Rutherford with Guy Madsen and his sister Eileen. Her heart aches for the family, she said Friday while riding her bicycle on Island Beach, near where she summers.

Bill Paul, a volunteer firefighter with the Lavallette Fire Department, was out with four other members of his company on Friday, searching a quadrant of the brush on the bay side.

"This is what we do," Paul said.

Lavallette Assistant Fire Chief Joe Barraco said the task of searching is one that fire companies always join in.

"We are just out here trying to give some closure to the family one way, shape or another."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 http://www.app.com/article/20090717/NEWS/907170360/1070/NEWS02
 

[Nut44x4]

Reward of $25,000 offered for information that leads to her whereabouts
Family seeks public's help in finding missing woman
Friday, 24 July 2009 10:49

The family of a Clifton woman who disappeared from her beach house in South Seaside Park last month is asking for the public's input to help find the missing 72-year-old woman.

Julie Madsen, whose formal name is Julia, was last seen on June 25 at approximately 7 p.m. at the Ocean Ciunty residence. She told her husband that she was going for a walk on the beach and she never returned.

Julie has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease – a mild case according to relatives. An exhaustive search effort using more than 100 people has not turned up any substantial leads.
Guy Madsen, Julie's son, is asking for help from the public. There is a $25,000 reward being offered by her family for information that leads to her whereabouts.

Julie had been to the casinos in Atlantic City the week before she disappeared. Her son hopes that maybe someone in the A.C. area may have information to help bring this search to an end.

The Berkeley Twp. Police Department and the Ocean County Sheriff's Department have been leading the investigation with substantial assistance from Det. Jack Donegan of the NJSP Missing Person Unit. The US Coast Guard and the FBI have also been assisting in this investigation.

Julia was last seen wearing a pink shirt, white pants, and white sneakers. She has moles on her face. She was wearing a diamond engagement ring and wedding band, a silver watch on her right wrist, and a gold/silver bracelet on her left wrist.

Her current residence is in Clifton in Passaic County, but she has the beach house where both her and her husband had been staying.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Berkeley Township Police Department at 732-341-6600 or NJSP ROIC Watch Ops at 609-963-6900.
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/family-seeks-publics-help-in-finding-missing-woman

[MuffyBee]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/article_4b6d73f8-7805-11de-9b32-001cc4c03286.html
‘She just vanished’ man says of his 72-year-old mother
By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer, 609-272-7257 | Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2009 |
Julie and Ed Madsen loved to come to Atlantic City.

The couple spent a day together at the resort last month, after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

On Thursday, their son Guy was back: This time to put up fliers asking for anyone who has seen Julie to call the police.

It was finally a nice, dry evening June 25, so Julie Madsen, 72, went for a walk on the beach near her son's home in South Seaside Park, Berkeley Township. It was about 7 p.m. A month later, the woman, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, still has not returned.

"It's baffling," said her son, Guy. "She vanished. Where is Julie? She just vanished."

He's trying to stay strong for his father, who is learning how to live on his own - at least for now.

"She was a very strong woman," Ed said. "I couldn't carry things because of my condition, so she'd make three trips."

The other day, he went food shopping for the first time. It was difficult to get up and down the aisles. But, without his high school sweetheart, everything is difficult.

"I have no idea how I even feel," Ed said. "I'm just lost."

Julie didn't go out all the time, but when she said she was going for a walk, it wasn't unusual, Ed said. Diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's, she wasn't at the point where she couldn't go for a short walk or drive on her own.

But as the clock passed 8 p.m., Ed became concerned. He got in his car, then trekked slowly down the beach on his uncooperative legs. No Julie.

He drove around looking. By 9 p.m., he called the police.

Guy Madsen was getting ice cream with his son in their hometown of Clifton when he got the call. The Berkeley Township home is registered to him, and police wanted to make sure it wasn't his father who suffered from dementia and was mistaken about his missing wife.

He set them straight, he got on the Garden State Parkway and rushed to his father. He expected to get a call along the way that she had come home. He didn't.

Although nothing has turned up, Guy said the investigators - from Berkeley Township to the State Police - have been wonderful. He's also learned a lot, such as identification bracelets can be purchased for Alzheimer's patients.

"That's why an education component is important when patients are diagnosed," said Dr. Marie Hasson, who chairs AtlantiCare's Department of Psychiatry. "Family members need to be educated."

Guy now believes his mother may not have wandered off, but instead was abducted.

"There's no evidence to point in that direction, but neither is there any reason to rule it out," State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

"We don't really know what we think," Berkeley Township Detective Jimmy Smith said. "I never thought four weeks would go by. We have a lot of these cases but they always have a successful ending."

While one hasn't come yet, it's not for lack of concern by authorities and other volunteers, Guy said. The one positive from all this: The love his mother had seems to be coming back to help find her. Even psychics have offered their services. Those calls are handled by Guy's sister, Eileen Tummino.

"There's a Bruce Springsteen song," Guy said. "'I don't believe in magic, but for you I will.' For my mom, I will."

Julie Madsen is 5 feet 4 inches tall and about 175 pounds. She has blue eyes and red hair. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt, white pants, brown leather shoes, a silver watch on her right wrist and gold and silver bracelet on her left.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Berkeley Township Police Department at 732-341-6600.

[Bearlyhere]

How very sad.  This family is in my prayers.

God Bless Tim Miller, his heart is as big as the state of Texas.

 

[Bearlyhere]

We can only hope she's safe somewhere'

(by Daniel O'Keefe - July 15, 2009)

Family seeks help in locating missing woman

For Edward Madsen, the past three weeks have been a nightmare.

About three weeks ago, on June 25, his wife, Julie, disappeared. They were down at the shore in the town of Seaside Park. They had just gotten back to their summer house after a late lunch and they were watching television. At about 7 p.m., Julie got up and said she was going for a short walk and that she'd be back soon.

That was the last Edward, 74, saw her. Just days before, the two had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Her disappearance initiated a search of the area involving scores of law enforcement and other emergency personnel. Local police and fire officials as well as county and state police and U.S. Coast Guard teams searched the area exhaustively. They walked up and down beaches, they knocked on doors, they combed the area with a K-9 team looking for leads, they sent out helicopters to do overhead sweeps of the area and the surrounding shoreline, they sent out scuba teams. None of the searching turned up any trace of where the 72-year-old woman, who family members say had a very early stage of Alzheimer's Disease, had gone.

Julie Madsen is in the early stage of Alzheimer’s and has been missing for two weeks. Her family thinks she may come back to Rutherford where she lived for years.

"We're just baffled," said Edward. "There's nothing. How does someone just vanish?" Though Julie had early Alzheimer's, relatives describe it as very mild and not yet enough to prevent her from walking and driving on her own without needing help.

Though they moved to Clifton a few years ago, the Madsens are long-time residents of Rutherford who lived for years on Wilson and East Pierrepont avenues. Many family members are still living in town.

"It's a surreal experience," said Dean Bricola, the Madsens' nephew. "We've exhausted all possibilities at this point. We can only hope she's somewhere safe."

Their son Guy Madsen, who no longer lives in South Bergen but who up until several years ago owned the Park City Grill property on Park Avenue in East Rutherford, has been fighting to keep getting the information out even as the official search starts to wind to a close because of the lack of leads.

Guy said he thinks it's particularly important to get word out to Rutherfordians in case somehow she ended up coming back to the town because it's familiar.

"If it's Alzheimer's and she's wandering around for two weeks, sometimes they go to places that are familiar," he said. "I'm counting on a miracle." Officials say there was a strong riptide that day, but Guy said Julie rarely swam and it's not likely she would venture into the water. Furthermore, authorities told him that if something had happened to her in the ocean, there likely would have been some sort of physical remains. So far none have been found.

According to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as of Jan. 1, 2008, the most recent date with published information, there were 105,000 active missing persons records. New Jersey recently partnered with a Florida organization, A Child Is Missing, which assists law enforcement with searches for missing persons by using GPS technology to quickly alert residents within the immediate area by phone. Officials stress that the first few hours after someone goes missing are the most vital for finding them.

Julie Madsen is about five feet six inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds.

She was last seen wearing a pink shirt, white pants and white sneakers.

She has light brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with any information should call local police at 201-939-6000.

"Every day's a new day," said Bricola. "We're hoping tomorrow brings good things."

To comment on this story go to www.southbergenite.com. E-mail: okeefe@northjersey.com

http://www.southbergenite.com/NC/0/2793.html

[2NJSons_Mom]

As mentioned in an article I posted dated 7/17/09, Tim Miller of Texasequusearch has been assisting law enforcement in the search.

http://texasequusearch.org/2009/07/missing-julia-madsen-72-south-seaside-park-nj-062509/

[Nut44x4]

??????????

Brielle police investigate manicured finger found on deck
by The Star-Ledger Continuous News desk Friday July 31, 2009, 6:04 AM
BRIELLE -- Police here suspect a manicured finger found on a deck of a home may belong to a missing elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in The Asbury Park Press.

The report said police theorize the body part found Thursday could have been dropped by a bird. If the medical examiner concludes the evidence is a human finger, State Police spokesman Trooper Brian Polite told the newspaper the missing persons unit will become involved.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/brielle_police_investigate_man.html

[2NJSons_Mom]

Nut,  I was attempting to post a similar article earlier, but had computer problems.   No article mentioned if Julie had acrylic nails, but I did think of her.

Brielle is quite a bit north of Seaside Heights on the shoreline, a county or two up.

********

Female finger found on Jersey shore deck
Friday, July 31, 2009
The Record
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 0 Comments    BRIELLE  — Authorities suspect a decomposed female finger found on a Jersey shore deck may have been dropped by a bird.

Brielle Police Chief Michael Palmer says there appeared to be an acrylic, french-manicured nail on the finger.

The finger was taken to the Monmouth County Medical Examiner's Office.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/Female_finger_found_on_Jersey_shore_deck.html
 

[Nut44x4]

FINGER NOT REAL.....

BRIELLE — After examinations by municipal, county and state laboratories, a forensic anthropologist has determined an object found on the deck of a Brielle home — which resembled a decayed human finger with an acrylic french tip fingernail — is made of neither human nor animal tissue, authorities said.

Police were called to a home on Osprey Point Drive the morning of July 30, when the homeowner reported the discovery.

Police took the item to the Monmouth County Medical Examiner, where it was examined but could not be verified as a human finger. The item was turned over to the State Police, authorities said.

State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said Thursday that after several levels of examination, it was still suspected to be a human finger.

But State Police forensic anthropologist Donna Fontana determined, after x-raying and testing the item, that it did not have human or animal bones or tissue, Jones said Thursday.

Fontana determined that the item, which is made of an unidentified substance and was decorated with an acrylic nail, was not human or animal. The item will not be tested further and will be discarded, Jones said.

http://www.app.com/article/20090806/NEWS/90806124/-1/FRONTTABS01/State+Police++Item+found+in+Brielle+not+a+human+finger

[2NJSons_Mom]

 
 
A family photo taken in May of Julia with her daughter Eileen.     
 

Kelly: For missing woman's family, no clues but many questions
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Last updated: Sunday August 23, 2009, 5:22 PM
The Record
On a clear, sun-kissed evening in June, Julia Madsen of Clifton announced that she was taking a walk.

No one has seen her since.

“It’s like she was abducted by aliens,” said Julia’s son, Guy, 47, a software salesman who also lives in Clifton.

Julia was last seen at Guy’s summer home in the Jersey Shore borough of South Seaside Park, only a few blocks from the entrance to Island Beach State Park. She had just celebrated her 72nd birthday and 50th wedding anniversary. She also was coping with a recent doctor’s diagnosis that she had early stage Alzheimer’s disease.

With her husband Ed, 74, a longtime North Jersey restaurateur who managed the Meadowland’s Pegasus as well as several other area eateries, Julia had come to the beach for a short vacation.

It was June 25, around 7 p.m. Ed was sitting on a living room couch watching TV and resting after a late lunch with Julia at a nearby restaurant and shopping for groceries and a new beige bathmat.

Julia told Ed she wanted to take a walk on the beach. Ed saw no reason to worry.

Yes, Julia had Alzheimer’s. But she was still driving a car. And while Julia’s memory was not as sharp as it once was, her family says she still spoke coherently most of the time.

Julia opened the front door, walked past a pot of pink impatiens and four scrub pine trees and across a neighbor’s driveway. She wore a pink blouse, white Capri pants and brown sandals. The 13 stairs leading to the beach were only 40 feet away.

If Julia climbed those stairs and headed down a 30-foot wooden walkway that took her through a dune and on to the beach, no one saw her – no one. And this is where the mystery of Julia Madsen deepens ominously.

Police and witnesses say the beach was not crowded that night. But it was not empty either.

“There were some surfers in the water,” said Karen Vitella, who lives nearby and volunteered to search for Julia.

Others say a family of four – husband, wife and two children – were on the beach too, along with some fishermen and a few joggers. Also – and this is important, say police – about a dozen condominium units with balconies and other homes overlook the stretch of beach that Julia would have strolled.

But no one has come forward to say they saw a woman in the pink blouse. Certainly, no one saw her walk into the water. Indeed, the Madsen family insists that Julia disliked swimming – certainly with her clothes on.

“We don’t have one eyewitness that said they saw her on the beach,” said Detective Sergeant James Smith of the Berkeley Township police.

Did Julia even go to the beach? What happened to her?

“That’s a great question,” Smith said. “It’s very rare that someone just vanishes.”

Or as Julia’s daughter, Eileen Tummino, a 46-year-old real estate agent from River Edge noted: “You would think someone would have seen her.”

And if Julia went into the ocean, could she vanish without a trace?

“Yes,” said South Seaside Park’s chief lifeguard, Ken Masuhr. “But often when people drown, their bodies eventually turn up.”

Most missing persons cases follow a familiar path, as police and family members search desperately for clues. Julia Madsen’s was no exception.

After Julia was gone for an hour, Ed got up and headed for the beach.

“I did not see her,” he said.

Worried, he shouted her name – “Julie.” No answer.

Then Ed, who has difficulty walking because of an enlarged heart, got in his car and drove up and down nearby blocks. Again, no sign of Julia.

Around 9 p.m., Ed phoned the Berkeley Township police. Within minutes, several police cruisers were on the scene. Soon after, a Coast Guard helicopter, equipped with a spotlight, was flying low over the beach, the ocean and even nearby Island Beach State Park.

Then, Guy Madsen arrived after driving from Clifton. He also walked the beach in the darkness, then drove his SUV onto the sand and drove for miles – until dawn.

The next morning, county sheriff’s officers arrived, along with several hundred volunteers and a team of bloodhounds.

No one found any sign of Julia – not after marching up and down the beach or talking to swimmers and nearby homeowners or scanning security videos at local restaurants or combing the dunes and scrub grass and pines in the 8-mile-long Island Beach State Park. Days later, a search group from Texas even came and flew a specially equipped drone over the park.

Not a trace of Julia.

After police circulated a missing person’s flier, with Julia’s photo and description, a tipster called to say Julia was in a nearby Home Depot, buying lumber. Another called to say she was in Bricktown. Another described Julia as walking on Route 70. Yet another said she was in Atlantic City.

Nothing checked out.

Then came the psychics. The Madsen family says at least a half-dozen have called since Julia was reported missing.

One psychic said Julia had been murdered, with her body thrown in a dumpster. The police checked every dumpster but found nothing. Another psychic said Julia was alive and fine and sending this message through the psychic: “Keep looking for me.”

As odd – indeed, bizarre – as some psychics can be, the Madsen family admits to finding a desperate measure of comfort in what they say.

“That’s the only thing I have to go on,” said Eileen Tummino.       

Reluctantly, the Madsen family has come to wonder if Julia was abducted.

“I think she asked the wrong person for help and she was taken,” said Guy.

“I think she came upon something,” said Ed.

But police say they have no evidence of an abduction. Investigators even ran criminal background checks of guests at nearby motels and found nothing suspicious. And when two witnesses said they saw Julia in a truck in Island Beach Park, the police set up a checkpoint and search all vehicles in the park – but found nothing.

On a recent afternoon, Ed Madsen, Guy Madsen and Eileen Tummino drove again to South Seaside Park. They met with Berkeley Police Det. Joseph Santoro, who assured them the search was continuing.

“An unprecedented search,” Santoro said, as he sat in the family’s living room.

But after several hours and even a walk on the beach again, the family found itself with the same dilemma they’ve faced for two months – no clues but many questions.

“She was my best friend,” said Ed, as he sat on the couch and remembered his wife’s last good-bye.

“Did we ever think we’d be doing this eight weeks later?” asked Eileen.

“It’s ripped us apart,” said Guy.

 

 
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[MuffyBee]

Thank you for the article, 2NJ.  Julia Madsen is on the list of the missing I check for news updates every day. Two months later, nothing.   

[2NJSons_Mom]

Thank you for the article, 2NJ.  Julia Madsen is on the list of the missing I check for news updates every day. Two months later, nothing.   

They have obviously utilized anything they can, to find her and to no avail.  My head tells me this may not have a good outcome, but my heart is with the family's hopes.  So very sad...   

[Edward]

At first I had to consider suicide..
Just finding out that she has Early stages of Alzheimer's and all and watching what happens in other families when it gets to an advanced stage.
I would have thought that somebody would have come across her by now...

[MuffyBee]

http://northjersey.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=25211165

There are pics of Julia Madsen and her family.