Update is expected this afternoon
By Ruth Luse and Charles W. Kim, Packet Media Group
LAMBERTVILLE — After The Beacon’s press time Wednesday, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III and Lambertville Police Director Bruce Cocuzza told area residents and members of the news media that, “at 4:50 this afternoon, a female body was recovered in the D & R Canal near the lock south of Bridge Street in Lambertville.
”Divers from the New Jersey State Police TEAMS Unit made the discovery after a boot was found in the canal by a State Police diver assigned to the Search & Recovery Task Force,” the prosecutor said.
A 3:32 p.m. Wednesday report (from an unidentified source) from NBC Channel 10, Philadelphia, indicated that: “One of her boots (had been) found . . . on the ice in the D&R canal, which is where she disappeared.”
”While the clothing description is consistent with what Sarah Majoras was wearing, a positive identification (which is expected today), as well as the cause and manner of death, will be handled by the Hunterdon County medical examiner. The investigation still remains active until investigators determine what happened to Ms. Majoras,” the prosecutor said.
An update is expected to come out this afternoon, according to Detective Edmund J. DeFilippis, of the prosecutor’s office.
”Our sincere condolences go out to the Majoras family and her many friends in Lambertville and New Hope,” the prosecutor said.
MS. MAJORAS — a 1991 graduate of South Hunterdon Regional High School and valedictorian of her class — left John and Peter’s Bar in New Hope, Pennsylvania on Jan. 26 at approximately around 2 a.m. She crossed the free bridge into Lambertville, and was last seen on surveillance video in the area near Lambertville Station and Coryell Street in Lambertville.
”While we have no substantial evidence of foul play, our minds remain open, we are looking at all possibilities, and we continue to pursue any information we can in an attempt to make sense of what might have happened,” the prosecutor said.
Anyone with information can contact the Hunterdon County prosecutor’s office through Hunterdon County Communications, 908-284-6162. Also, anyone with information can contact the Lambertville Police Department at 609-397-3132. All calls are kept confidential.
HOPING FOR THE BEST described the attitude of the more than 100 people who spent days searching the nooks and crannies of the city looking for any clues that would lead them to the missing 39-year-old bartender.
Ms. Majoras, a “beloved” resident and bartender at John & Peter’s club in neighboring New Hope, Pennsylvania, left on foot to go home (in Lambertville) after the bar’s 2 a.m. closing, according to police.
According to police, she was not working, but had been out with friends sharing a pleasant evening of drinks and listening to a band.
Her boyfriend of 13 years, Adam Baker, called the bar Saturday morning to see if she was still there when she didn’t return home to the apartment they share. He reported her missing to police around 2 p.m. Saturday.
FRIEND JOE UJJ, who coordinated volunteer search efforts, said she was in good spirits when she left the bar and even, turned down a lift home in favor of walking across the bridge from New Hope into Lambertville.
”She turned down a ride from a cab and a friend of hers who said they could drop her off over there,” Mr. Ujj, 44, said as he manned the volunteer command center in the Ragos Arts and Auction House on North Main Street Tuesday afternoon. “She is a beloved friend to everyone in Lambertville.”
Mr. Ujj described Ms. Majoras as “strong and intelligent” and someone who likely would put up quite a fight if she were threatened.
On Tuesday, while State Police and Somerset County prosecutor’s office water rescue crews were using sonar to search the Delaware and Raritan Canal in the area of the Coryell Street Bridge, some 180 volunteers on the ground looked for any clues in an effort to locate the missing woman.
”I felt compelled to walk around (and search) today,” Judy Henn — the 56-year-old owner of an art gallery in the city just around the corner from Coryell Street and Lambert Lane — said. “Everybody liked this girl. She has a lot of friends.”
The disappearance struck the core of the tight-knit community of artists and other creative individuals.
It didn’t seem to matter if the volunteers knew Ms. Majoras personally or not to take part in the search effort.
Mr. Ujj’s Facebook page, launched on Sunday, had garnered some 8,000 “likes” as of Tuesday. Mr. Ujj also launched a website Tuesday to collect donations for a cash reward in the case at www.nadma.org/findsarahmajoras.
Douglas White, the coordinator of the Hunterdon Amateur Radio Emergency Services, fielded five of the group’s 20 members to assist the volunteers as they searched the city.
”We’ve had an influx of people come in (Tuesday afternoon),” Mr. White said. Some were from out of state.
Mr. White, who has lived in the city for 13 years, said he felt he needed to come out and help in the search.
”I came out to do my part,” Mr. White, a former firefighter disabled in the line of duty in 2006, said. “It is a tight-knit community. Everybody helps out each other.”
AGENCIES assisting in the case are: the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit and TEAMS Unit, New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit, Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Department, New Hope Police Department, Mayor David Del Vecchio, HCPO Major Crimes Unit, HCPO Narcotics Task Force, HCPO Special Victims Unit, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Dive Rescue Team, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Solebury Township Police Department, Lambertville Fire and Rescue Squad, New Hope Fire and Rescue Units, Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit, Hunterdon County Department of Public Safety, and Palisades Search & Rescue Dogs.

