Stephanie Parze's body was discovered in a wooded area of New Jersey, where her family has searched in the days following her disappearance.
A body discovered in a wooded area of New Jersey been identified as Stephanie Parze, the 25-year-old who disappeared three months ago, authorities announced Monday morning.
“It is with great sadness we announce that Stephanie Parze’s remains were recovered yesterday near Route 9 in Old bridge,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. “May God bless Stephanie and her family during this terribly difficult time.”
An autopsy was conducted Monday morning after the body was found near where the Parze family had been conducting searches, according to Asbury Park Press.
Two unmarked patrol cars were seen at the Parze’s family house around the time the autopsy results were released, and while Parze’s family has been notified, they were not yet ready to comment, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Parze was last seen on Oct. 30, after a night out. The Freehold Township woman, her mother, three sisters and other female relatives went to medium Cindy Kaza’s show at the Stress Factory Comedy Club in New Brunswick, her family told the New York Post. She went back to her parents’ home, kissed her mother goodnight and left for her own home.
Other than a Snapchat photo she sent to her mom on the way home, she hadn't been seen since. Parze didn’t show up to her job as a nanny the following day and she wasn’t answering calls or texts from family or friends, the New York Post reported.
Parze’s on-again, off-again boyfriend John Ozbilgen may have been with her the night of her disappearance and was identified as a person of interest.
Ozbilgen, a 29-year-old stockbroker, was accused of domestic violence by Parze in September. Ozbilgen also spent time in jail shortly after Parze’s disappearance on an unrelated child pornography charge.
He then died by hanging himself in his family’s garage two days after his release, on Nov. 22.
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