NJ NJ - Lorraine Rea Herbster, 17, Westampton Twnshp, 9 Mar 1979

[John/Jane Doe]

Lorraine Rea Herbster – The Charley Project

 

[dotr]

Missing Person / NamUs #MP4585

View NamUs missing person case MP4585 for Lorraine Rea Herbster missing from Westampton Township, New Jersey. Date of last contact: Mar 09, 1979. NCMEC case number: 1158939.

namus.nij.ojp.gov

NamUs #MP4585​

Lorraine Rea Herbster, Female, White / Caucasian

MISSING
Date of Last Contact
March 9, 1979
Missing From
Westampton Township, New Jersey
Missing Age
17 Years
Current Age
62 Years

Case Numbers​

NCMEC Number​

1158939​

Demographics​

Missing Age​

17 Years​

Current Age​

62 Years​

Lorraine​

Middle Name​

Rea​

Last Name​

Herbster​

Nickname/Alias​

Lori​

Sex​

Female​

Race / Ethnicity​

White / Caucasian​

Height​

5'-4" - (64 - inches)​

Weight​

125 - lbs​

Lorraine was last seen on March 9, 1979. She was wearing a white coat sweater with a hoodie, a 6 inch long brown or beige design, and a belt tied in the back; a blouse; blue jeans; knee-high socks and brown hiking boots. She was also known to be wearing a diamond or brown quartz cats eye ring and a thin gold chain necklace. Lorraine was carrying a reddish-brown suede shoulder bag with a zipper on the top. Her nickname is Lori.​

Hair Color​

Brown​

Head Hair Description​

--​

Body Hair Description​

--​

Facial Hair Description​

--​

Left Eye Color​

Green​

Right Eye Color​

Green​

Eye Description​

---

​

Piercing​

pierced ears but unknown what earrings she may have been wearing​

---

​

Accessories​

reddish-brown suede shoulder bag, large, with zipper across the top​

---

​

Clothing​

Blue jeans, blouse, white coat sweater with 6" brown/beige design, with a belt tied in the back and a hood folded over the back, knee socks​

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​

Footwear​

brown hiking boots, part suede, part leather, with ripple soles, size 8 1/2​

---

​

Jewelry​

gold thin chain necklace, diamond/brown quartz cat's eye ring, unknown earrings but has pierced ears''​

View attachment 498388View attachment 498389​

 

[dotr]

Lorraine Rea Herbster – The Charley Project

Lorraine Rea Herbster​

• 
• 

Lorraine, circa 1979

• Missing Since03/09/1979
• Missing FromWestampton Township, New Jersey
• ClassificationEndangered Missing
• SexFemale
• RaceWhite
• Date of Birth01/16/1962 (62)
• Age17 years old
• Height and Weight5'4, 125 pounds
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Lorraine's nickname is Lori. Her ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance​

Lorraine left her new job at Microcircuit Corp. at 4:00 p.m. on March 9, 1979. She was a lab technician and had been working there for only a week. A co-worker dropped her off at the corner of Beverly-Rancocas Road and Holly Lane in Westampton Township, New Jersey, less than a mile from her home in the 10 block of Whitlow Drive in Mount Holly, New Jersey, so she could walk the rest of the way.

Lorraine's mother had offered to drive her to the bank to cash her paycheck after she arrived home. She was last seen at 5:15 p.m. while en route to her house. She apparently never arrived there, but her purse was found in the front yard. Her car was also at home; she wasn't driving it as she didn't have her license yet.

Lorraine dropped out of Burlington County Vocational and Technical School in her junior year. She had been engaged to be married, but she broke up with her fiance at Christmas in 1978. She liked her job and she was looking forward to getting her driver's license.

Investigators don't believe she left of her own accord, since she left all her belongings behind at home, including her paycheck. On the day of her disappearance, her mother was supposed to take her to the bank so she could open her own bank account.

Investigators interviewed Lorraine's family members, friends and ex-boyfriends, but all of them were cleared from suspicion and the authorities couldn't determine any reason why someone would want to harm her. After her disappearance there were persistent rumors that she was murdered and her body dumped at a local construction site. Police were never able to substantiate the stories, however.

They have a person of interest in her disappearance, but this individual has never been charged due to lack of evidence. Lorraine's case remains unsolved. Her family now lives in Alabama.

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Lorraine’s birthday.

 

[Sweetluv]

Odd her purse was found in the front yard...she must have at least made it to her house..

 

[Sweetluv]

March 9, 1979..thinking of Lorraine!

 

[theshadow45]

March 9, 1979..thinking of Lorraine!

Missing for 46 years today.

 

[spartanx]

I was reading about this case and apparently people saw her after she was dropped off walking home... so I would assume they ruled out the coworker from that...
But why didn't the coworker give her a ride home? I'm not sure, but I will say it's not that uncommon, especially back then.. although it could be for a couple of reasons... she didn't want the coworker to know her exact address, the coworker was in a hurry and had to go somewhere, etc... I feel like a LOT of older cases have some sort of "dropped off" a mile from a house or near the house or something like that... also it could be that the ex-fiancé is a suspect... and the last thing the purse is on the lawn tells me she basically arrived at the property... this says no one was home before her or they probably would have seen/heard something... So, we can't be sure if she arrived at the house and then was taken by someone she knew or if she was snatched from outside the house while she was walking home...
either way
Rest in peace

 

[Caring1]

22 Unidentified Person Exclusions

 

[Angelcat13]

I was reading about this case and apparently people saw her after she was dropped off walking home... so I would assume they ruled out the coworker from that...
But why didn't the coworker give her a ride home? I'm not sure, but I will say it's not that uncommon, especially back then.. although it could be for a couple of reasons... she didn't want the coworker to know her exact address, the coworker was in a hurry and had to go somewhere, etc... I feel like a LOT of older cases have some sort of "dropped off" a mile from a house or near the house or something like that... also it could be that the ex-fiancé is a suspect... and the last thing the purse is on the lawn tells me she basically arrived at the property... this says no one was home before her or they probably would have seen/heard something... So, we can't be sure if she arrived at the house and then was taken by someone she knew or if she was snatched from outside the house while she was walking home...
either way
Rest in peace

From what I remember it was snowing pretty heavily (or had snowed) and the side streets weren’t plowed yet so she supposedly told the co-worker to drop her off at the end of the street and she’d walk in from there. I am local and the way the streets are right there it would have been easier for the co-worker to continue on their way home without going down the side street. Plus the neighborhood was new construction at the time - her family was one of the earlier families to move in - so the neighborhood probably wasn’t high on the priority list when it came to plowing.

 

[methodwriter85]

22 Unidentified Person Exclusions
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It doesn't look like she's been checked against Ocean County Jane Doe 1981, who was found completely skeletonized in February of 1981 in Lacey Township. Thoughts?

 

[Diane Redfern]

MP-NJ MP4585 - Lorraine Lori Herbster - Westampton, NJ, 9 Mar 79 - Courier Post, 25 May 90

Clipping found in Courier-Post published in Camden, New Jersey on 5/25/1990. MP-NJ MP4585 - Lorraine Lori Herbster - Westampton, NJ, 9 Mar 79 - Courier Post, 25 May 90

www.newspapers.com

There's nothing about this mandible on NamUs, as far as I know. I don't know if Lori and Margaret Fox were ruled out.

 

[Angelcat13]

MP-NJ MP4585 - Lorraine Lori Herbster - Westampton, NJ, 9 Mar 79 - Courier Post, 25 May 90

Clipping found in Courier-Post published in Camden, New Jersey on 5/25/1990. MP-NJ MP4585 - Lorraine Lori Herbster - Westampton, NJ, 9 Mar 79 - Courier Post, 25 May 90

www.newspapers.com

There's nothing about this mandible on NamUs, as far as I know. I don't know if Lori and Margaret Fox were ruled out.

I live pretty close yo here and don’t remember anything about this, but it was at a very busy time in my life and it looks like the coverage of this story was very minimal- especially without social media like today. Were you able to find any updates about this?