Berkeley Heights police asked the public for help locating a missing juvenile identified only as Jinessy, who was found on October 20. Investigators have not released her age, a physical description, or what she was last wearing.
Conflicting Timelines Cloud the Search
According to Newport Dispatch, Jinessy was last seen Tuesday evening around 8 p.m. on October 13, per the Berkeley Heights Police Department. But a separate report from Patch, published October 19, cited Berkeley Heights Police as saying she was last seen Sunday evening around 8 p.m. — October 18, 2026. Jinessy was found on October 20, making October 18 the correct last-seen date; the timeline did not leave a nearly five-day gap unresolved.
Authorities have not released additional details about Jinessy's age or description, according to the same Newport Dispatch report. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Berkeley Heights Police Department at 908-464-1111.
Why There's No Statewide Alert — Yet
The lack of a statewide AMBER Alert does not mean police are treating the case casually. Under New Jersey State Police guidelines, activating a statewide AMBER Alert requires specific evidence that a child under 18 has been abducted and faces imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm — a threshold that general missing juvenile or runaway reports do not automatically meet. That's also why Berkeley Heights officers were required to act immediately rather than wait: under New Jersey's Patricia's Law, enacted in 2007, police departments statewide must accept missing person reports right away, without any mandatory waiting period, and begin investigating without delay, according to the New Jersey State Police.
Berkeley Heights remains the lead agency on the case, but state protocols allow officers to escalate high-risk or extended searches to the NJ State Police Missing Persons and Child Exploitation Unit and the Regional Operations Intelligence Center if needed. Locally, Union County municipalities also have access to the Union County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit, which provides specialized detectives and child advocacy support for complex juvenile investigations.
A Small Township With Regional Reach
Berkeley Heights is a suburban Union County township of 13,285 residents, according to the 2020 Census, and sits along NJ Transit's Gladstone Branch line, with direct rail connections to Summit, Hoboken, and New York City — a detail that can widen the geographic scope investigators consider when a young person goes missing from a commuter-connected town.
The department has handled missing-person cases before. In October 2025, Berkeley Heights Police issued a public lookout notice for missing 34-year-old resident Thomas Mauch, asking residents along Glenside Road to check private surveillance footage. And in October 2024, officers located a missing juvenile who had left a residential school in neighboring Bernards Township during a traffic stop, after the teen went to a relative’s house in Berkeley Heights and left before officers arrived.
The department has also recently leaned on public bulletins for other safety concerns. Hoodline reported on a stranger who hid in a bathroom after gaining entry to a local home under false pretenses in September, prompting a public safety alert to township residents.
Context Amid a Wave of NJ Juvenile Searches
Jinessy's case comes amid a string of similar appeals from New Jersey police departments this month. Camden Police recently sought help finding missing 17-year-old Amor Walker, last seen in Centerville, as well as a missing teen named Zavier Cooks, while Franklin Township Police searched for 15-year-old Jamiya Miller Long out of Malaga. These cases underscore the attention police appeals for missing juveniles receive across New Jersey.
