The investigation was prompted by the search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old prostitute from Jersey City who disappeared in the area last May and remains missing. One month later, the department’s missing persons bureau asked Officer Mallia to search for Ms. Gilbert.
“I assumed we would find her,” he said. “I assumed she was dead. Nobody had a clue.”
Over the summer, the officer and Blue searched the gated beach community where she was last seen, but came up with nothing.
On Dec. 11, he returned, this time venturing west. He said he stuck close to the shoulder of the parkway, because the vegetation was so thick and because data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed that when bodies were dumped, most were disposed of about 30 feet from the road. That afternoon, shortly before 3 p.m., Blue picked up a scent on the parkway.