What to Know
- The family of a missing New Jersey woman is looking for volunteers to help in the search for her, nearly one month after she went missing
- Stephanie Parze vanished Halloween Eve after dropping her parents off at their home following a family night out in New Brunswick
- No one has seen her since; the lights were on in her home and her car was in the driveway, but there was no sign of the young NJ woman
The family of a missing New Jersey woman is looking for volunteers to help in the search for her, nearly one month after she went missing.
Stepanie Parze’s family is hoping that people will help them search nearby areas where she might be found. They are asking all who want to aid in their efforts this week to sign up online, which can be found here.
Over the weekend, hundreds of people turned out to search for Parze, who vanished after dropping her parents off at their house following a family night out on October 30. She hasn't been seen since, though searches have led authorities across multiple states and counties.
Her ex-boyfriend, who was recently named a person of interest in her disappearance, was found dead by suicide in his home, law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case told News 4.
John Ozbilgen apparently killed himself in his Freehold Township home overnight Thursday into Friday, the sources said, days after Monmouth County prosecutors classified him as a person of interest in the disappearance of Stephanie Parze.
Ozbilgen died just days after he was ordered released from jail in connection with an unrelated child pornography case. It was the day of that hearing, when the judge ordered him released, that prosecutors for the first time called him a person of interest in the case of Parze, who had dated him for months.
During their relationship, Parze accused Ozbilgen of abuse, sources have previously told News 4. He was arrested on the child porn charge Nov. 8, but the judge ruled Tuesday the single charge was not enough to detain until trial.
Ozbilgen's attorney, Robert Honecker, told News 4 Friday that the man's family was emotionally distraught and heartbroken. He says he met with Ozbilgen Thursday night at his law office and that the man "adamantly denied having anything to do" with the child pornography charge and "strongly mantained his innocence." Honecker, who declined to say whether Ozbilgen had left a note, said the two did not talk about Stephanie Parze.
Parze kissed her mother goodbye after dropping them off at their place and headed for her home about 10 miles away, where she lives alone with her dog.
The search for the missing woman has taken investigators from the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office to Long Pond Park in Staten Island, only a few miles from where Ozbilgen used to live. During that search, the abuse accusations resurfaced.
