Jenna Lord (23) 7/5/10 Collingdale, Penn.
Located Deceased:Body found



Jenna Lord, a 23-year-old mother from Collingdale, was found dead today in Camden, N.J., police have confirmed.

Her body was found in a vacant lot by a search party of family members and friends who were combing the neighborhood where she was last seen. Her identity was confirmed by a tattoo on her arm. Police said she appeared to have been dead for some time.

Missing Collingdale woman found dead (With Video)
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2010/07/18/news/doc4c43686298eca402324735.txt


UPDATE: Train station surveillance tape shows two men following her before she disappeared.

It seems a man at the train station thought she "looked a little scared," according to her mother. So the unnamed man loaned Jenna his cell so she could call home. He also helped her buy a ticket, then waited with her until his own train arrived.

He left just a minute before Jenna's train was supposed to depart. But something must have happened within that brief period.

Surveillance tape shows two men following about five feet behind her and saying something to Jenna. She couldn't have been interested in them, because she turned around to look, then kept walking. That's when the tape cut off.

Her friends and family don't believe she vanished on her own. They say she's been sober for six months, reading the Bible daily and taking care of her 3-year-old son.

The family also claims police have shown little interest in finding her, which isn't uncommon for women with her history. But if police believe otherwise, they're not saying. They provided almost no public statements in their investigation of the case.


UPDATE II: Jenna's body has been found in a vacant lot of a drug infested neighborhood in Camden.

A search of Camden by 40 friends and family didn't take long to find Jenna's body Sunday. Less than two hours into the canvass, she was discovered by her uncle, Ariel Morales.

Though no official ID has been made, all signs point to Jenna. She was badly decomposed and bloated, but the corpse had Jenna's trademark hoop earrings, ankle bracelet and Mikey Mouse tattoo on her forearm.
According to neighbors, the lot is largely used as a drug trade zone and a place for hookers to turn tricks.

She was last seen July 5 in surveillance cameras at the Camden train station. Police say she then took a train across the river to the Philly, where she was caught on another surveillance camera taking what appears to be clothes from another woman. Then she returned by train to Camden. She was later seen on camera leaving that station with two other men.

Her family has resoundingly ripped police for failing to vigorously search for the missing mom, complaining that detectives thought she was a junkie. They may be right, since police routinely give shorter shrift to missing women with drug histories. (See the case of a Cleveland serial killer who got away with murder for years while cops blew off statements from victims.)

Then again, it's not unusual for families to lash out at officers in their grief, irrespective of whether police could have done anything more.

But one searcher, Justin Bender, says an unidentified man told searchers where to find Jenna. The man directed them to the lot, then ran away. Members of the group gave chase and he was later nabbed by police, Bender told the Philly Daily News. But police counter that no one was arrested or charged.

What remains to be seen is why no one in the neighborhood reported the body. It was blackened and bloated from the heat, and the smell had to be horrific. But when you live in a city as broken down as Camden, you do your best to ignore what you don't want to see. Or smell.


UPDATE III: Reader Missing Budweiser was in the search party when Jenna's body was found.

He offers an eyewitness account:

"I was in a group of about 20-30. Mostly women (Mom, Aunts, cousins,) with a few of the older men which included Jenna's Grandfather. About an hour and a half into the search, one of the other groups, comprised of Jenna's boyfriend (father of child), his friends, uncles, and possible stepfather ran into a man who had been with her on the train station video.

"At this point we had spoke to 10-15 people and most said they had seen or recognized Jenna. I was becoming skeptical at this point. The man was brought to speak with Jenna's mom, and then out of nowhere everyone started running down to the next street. I believed that someone had spotted Jenna, but apparently this man had taken some of the men to a lot where he had last seen Jenna.

"I ran down the road blowing by the women, and the police officer helping with the search. I saw a man (an uncle) pointing to an abandoned lot. As soon a I hit the lot, I realized that a dead body had been found. I could smell the decomposing body, but it was not as bad as you would expect considering the time and weather.

"I stepped up onto a tree stump beside some bushes and she was 2-3 feet away. I first noticed a gold purse and a shoe. I followed a swollen blackish yellow leg up to the bloated torso. Her head and face appeared to be partly missing. I had to turn away and only viewed her for a few seconds. I was pretty much in shock and shaking. One minute you are looking for a person, then you see her dead badly decomposed body.

"Screams, wailing, and crying filled the air as police officers closed the scene. I then saw a small group of men chasing someone back in the direction that we had come from. The man who led the group to the area was running away.

"He was caught be Jenna's boyfriend and a friend of his. Police then took him into custody. Not sure if he knew that Jenna was there dead. The police may have just took him away for his safety. I did not see the man get hit, but the boyfriend's knuckles were bloody. So he hit someone or something.

"I have a hard time believing he would knowingly lead searchers of a loved one to her body. Then again, maybe his conscience was getting to him. Not sure why he just wouldn't have phoned in a anonymous tip then.

"The key to this case lies with the woman who handed Jenna clothes and the two men she was seen leaving the train with."

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the man who led searchers to the lot is on of the men seen in surveillance video at the train station. He's been questioned by police, and claims that Jenna did do drugs that day. She later passed out and he left her in the lot.

At least that's what he's claiming. But police aren't releasing any further details on the case.

Because her body was so badly decomposed, a coroner was unable to identify the cause of death, nor get a toxicology read. Police say there were no obvious signs of physical trauma.