The New Jersey State Police sponsored a first-of-its-kind event for the families of missing persons in the state.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Maureen Himebaugh still clings to the last birthday gift her red-headed son left wrapped before he disappeared from her Cape May home more than 25 years ago: a troll doll. She lives in the same house and has the same phone number -- in case he ever returns.
Wilfredo Gonzalez, 62, remembers the last time he heard his sister's voice more than three years ago when she called him for his birthday and sang to him. She went missing in Miami, Fla. a day later.
Heidi McCallum dabbed away tears when she talked about how how many lives her daughter Meg touched before she went missing in Long Branch in March 2015.
"She was my best friend," McCallum, of Montvale, said. "I just need to know what happened to her."
Stories like these poured from the walls of Rutgers University Saturday as families of New Jersey's missing persons gathered for the state's first-ever "Missing in New Jersey" event. Organized by New Jersey State Police, the event brought together about 30 families with missing persons cases connecting them with law enforcement resources, DNA testing, and other families in similar situations.
"We're trying to provide a sense of hope for the families ... they've suffered in silence," said State Police Sgt. Joel Trella, who borrowed the idea for the event from Michigan.
"This is nothing more, nothing less than law enforcement believing that there's a way they can help," state Attorney General Christopher Porrino told NJ Advance Media. "And them outreaching their hands and pulling together a group like this of all the different disciplines to help people find their missing loved ones."
State police said about 14,000 - 16,000 missing persons cases are reported every year in New Jersey. While a majority of those are solved, authorities said there are more than 1,100 long-term missing persons cases (someone missing for more than 30 days) and 300 cases of unidentified human remains in the state.
"I used to speak to her almost every week," Gonzalez, of Jersey City said of his missing sister, Noemi Gonzalez, as he held back tears. "It's very difficult not to speak to her anymore."
Gonzales, who wore a large pin with his sister's name and photo, said he's doing everything he can to find answers. He and his two sisters-in-law had the insides of their mouths swabbed for a DNA sample at a table set up by the Attorney General's Office and State Police.
"I feel bad for everybody," Gonzalez said, tears building up in his eyes. "Before you see it in the paper and it's like OK somebody is missing. Now that you have somebody from your family it's like wow."
The four-hour event attracted local, state and federal law enforcement officials, who vowed to work together to solve these cases.
"We are committed to getting you answers," State Police Colonel Rick Fuentes told the crowd. "We're applying science in ways we didn't have 20 years ago ... we're going to do as much as we can for you."
"This is all about closure, getting to closure for some of the families," Fuentes told NJ Advance Media. "There's a support element that's going to build beyond this meeting that we're holding, where people will share wisdom, they'll have someone to talk to, they're finding similarities among their stories, we're simply providing the environment for that."
Some family members who found their loved ones comforted those who were still searching. Abby Potash, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said she lost her son for eight months in 1997-98 when a family member kidnapped him from Hamburg.
"You feel totally out of control," Potash, who now lives in Virginia said. "You feel helpless."
Himebaugh, who lost her 11 and a half year old son when a fire broke out in her area, told other families to always keep their loved one's picture in the public eye in case anyone could help like the case of Jaycee Lee Dugard, a kidnapped girl found 18 years later.
"The pain, the pain never goes away but it does get easier," Himebaugh, 65, said. Her son will turn 37 on May 23. "I'm not going to give up hope," she said kissing the troll doll her son gave her.
Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.