Michael Clemens, a 38-year-old man from the Philadelphia suburbs, has not been heard from in five days after he was last seen cleaning a dock at Benny's Landing Road in Middle Township, New Jersey, at about 10:38 a.m. on Saturday, September 26. His family says he has a mobility impairment from a past work injury and walks with a limp, and they are now pleading for the public's help as searchers comb the waterfront community where his belongings were found but he was not.
According to WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM, Clemens frequently visited a family member's home in Benny's Landing, a waterfront community near Cape May Court House known for private docks and long piers that extend into Jenkins Sound. His belongings were recovered on a picnic table on the dock, but authorities say there is no evidence confirming he fell into the water. Clemens's family has raised the possibility that he could have fallen into the bay while cleaning the dock, though that remains their own theory rather than a confirmed finding.
The disappearance came as Jenkins Sound experienced significant flooding from Friday into Saturday morning, according to the same report. Jenkins Sound is a salt marsh back-bay estuary connected to the Atlantic Ocean via Hereford Inlet, a configuration that creates complex tide-driven currents and rapid water exchanges, per the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. The Cape May Peninsula's narrow geography between Delaware Bay and the Atlantic makes its low-lying marsh network along Jenkins Sound and Great Sound especially vulnerable to rapid tidal flooding during Nor'easters, the agency notes.
A Family's Urgent Plea
Clemens's family has asked for more resources, additional searching, and greater urgency from authorities, per the WPG Talk Radio report. They are also asking anyone with information or surveillance footage near Benny's Landing Road and Jenkins Sound to come forward to law enforcement or to the family directly. Those seeking to report a tip can reach the Middle Township Police Department's non-emergency line at (609) 465-8700; the department, headquartered at 31 Mechanic Street in Cape May Court House, serves a community of roughly 20,000 residents, according to PoliceApp.
Police and the U.S. Coast Guard are both involved in the search for Clemens, the radio station reports, but authorities have received no information about his whereabouts since he vanished. Primary authority for federal search and rescue operations in Cape May County's coastal waters and back bays rests with Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay, which runs a 24-hour command center out of Philadelphia, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Locally, Middle Township police regularly coordinate with the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau on water-based searches and major investigations, per the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office.
Search Conditions
Shifting tides are among the conditions searchers face in Jenkins Sound.
What Comes Next If the Case Remains Unsolved
Statewide, New Jersey law enforcement agencies field between 14,000 and 16,000 missing person reports each year, with roughly 99% of reported individuals recovered, according to figures in a New Jersey 101.5 article first published in 2019. The New Jersey State Police has held missing-person events, and biometric data is one resource discussed for families. [b11] Clemens's family describes him as clean from addiction and a survivor who loves music, cleaning, helping people, and being around family. They continue to search for him themselves while urging anyone with information about his final hours at Benny's Landing to come forward.
Clemens's family describes him as clean from addiction and a survivor who loves music, cleaning, helping people, and being around family. They continue to search for him themselves while urging anyone with information about his final hours at Benny's Landing to come forward.
