{"id":4362,"date":"2020-08-20T13:51:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T17:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=4362"},"modified":"2020-08-20T13:51:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T17:51:58","slug":"how-cops-and-a-civilian-saved-a-missing-toms-river-alzheimers-patient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2020\/08\/how-cops-and-a-civilian-saved-a-missing-toms-river-alzheimers-patient\/","title":{"rendered":"How Cops (And a Mechanic) Saved A Missing Toms River Alzheimer’s Patient"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Marilyn<\/a>

Marilyn Balzer (Photo: TRPD)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ocean County was gripped last week with the search for Marilyn Balzer, an 80-year-old Toms River woman suffering from Alzheimer\u2019s Disease who went missing from her home in the township\u2019s Lake Ridge section.<\/p>\n

Police made an announcement Monday morning that Balzer had been found, but until now, the entire story of events as to how she was located was unknown. According to Toms River police spokeswoman Jillian Messina, the first call about Balzer\u2019s disappearance came in at about 9:25 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, and an initial search of the area where she lived by officers did not turn up any evidence of her whereabouts. The social media campaign, complete with Balzer\u2019s photo and information on her condition, then began, as well as notification of a slew of other police agencies, including the NJ State Police missing person\u2019s unit. Eventually, a photo emerged of Balzer walking along Route 9.<\/p>\n

\"Marilyn

Marilyn Blazer (Photo: TRPD\/ NJ State Police)<\/p><\/div>\n

Fast forward to Monday. Toms River police received a call from an officer with the Howell Township Police Department, stating they believed they had found Balzer and were transporting her to Monmouth Medical Center\u2019s Southern Campus in Lakewood for an evaluation and treatment, Messina said.<\/p>\n

Balzer was spotted about a mile into Howell by Robert Vaccaro, owner of the R&J Automotive mechanic\u2019s shop, on Route 9 near their building. Vaccaro notified Howell police, who got in touch with their Toms River counterparts.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the woman found was Balzer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to thank all of the agencies involved who worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to bring Mrs. Balzer home safe,\u201d said Messina. \u201cWe also want to thank the local businesses who provided video to assist us in our investigation. Thank you to the public who offered assistance, shared our social media posts, and kept their eyes peeled for Mrs. Balzer, it was because of her photo circulating that she was identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messina added that family members of those suffering from dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s Disease in Ocean County are encouraged to become part of the Ocean County Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s Project Lifesaver program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Participating in the search for Balzer were: Police from Jackson Township, Manchester Township, Lakewood Township, Union City, Old Bridge and NJ Transit Police; officers from the Toms River Police Department, Toms River Detective Bureau, Ocean County Sheriff\u2019s Department K-9 Unit, Drone Unit, Quad Unit, Central Jersey K-9 Search & Rescue, NJ Community Search and Rescue, Pleasant Plains Fire Department, Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch, as well as the the New Jersey State Police Missing Person\u2019s Unit.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ocean County was gripped last week with the search for Marilyn Balzer, an 80-year-old Toms River woman suffering from Alzheimer\u2019s Disease who went missing from her home in the township\u2019s Lake Ridge section. Police made an announcement Monday morning that Balzer had been found, but until now, the entire story of events as to how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[1019,341],"class_list":["post-4362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-police-fire-courts","tag-marilyn-balzer","tag-toms-river-nj"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_5971.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}