A New Jersey mother has been found dead on the side of a highway four days after she went missing.
Police are currently treating the incident as suspicious but have not officially determined the manner of her death yet.
Norelis Mendoza, 32, of Lindenwold, was last seen leaving her mother’s house late on May 13, according to the New York Post. Police received a missing person report for her the following day.
The four-day search for Mendoza, mother of two children aged 1 and 3, came to an end after investigators found her body Wednesday in a wooded area off of Route 440 near the Jersey City-Bayonne border.
“We’ve been searching the area looking for any signs anybody had seen her. She left her mom’s residence on Saturday, that was the last contact for family. She called her phone and it didn’t go through,” Giovanni Molina, Mendoza’s cousin, told NBC10 Philadelphia. “It’s devastating because of the amount of time, especially…That gave four days of agony, meaning that we had no idea where Norelis could possibly be.”
Family members told CBS News that the deceased woman was captured on CCTV camera with someone else the night she disappeared.
“We know that they were in the downtown Jersey City area. That’s as far as we know as far as information. We don’t know exactly where. We don’t know where they went afterwards,” Molina told the outlet. “The family is absolutely devastated. This should not happen.”
The victim’s family said her body was found near the residence of the father of Mendoza’s children. They believe he is involved in her death and also noted that he has been violent in the past.
While awaiting answers about her death, Mendoza’s family said her children are left without their beloved mother and are now forced to grow up without her.
“Norelis was a loving mother, somebody that would never leave their children behind on Mother’s Day,” Molina told NBC10 Philadelphia. “Knowing that someone was possibly in fear of their life. Mother’s Day, we have two children, a 3- and a 1-year-old, Norelis has left behind. Those children will never celebrate Mother’s Day with their mother. We have a mother, a grandmother, lost her daughter on Mother’s Day…We know that she’s by her children now in spirit.”
