Missing Pinelands couple found dead

A Stafford Township police drone located the bodies of Gary and Lorraine Parker in a densely wooded area near their home.

The missing couple was found around 1 p.m. Tuesday, and although autopsies will be performed later this week, police believe no foul play is involved with their deaths.

The search began Tuesday, Nov. 23, and continued over the Thanksgiving holiday and beyond, according to Stafford Township Police Capt. James Vaughn. The married couple appeared to have gone for a ride on their all-terrain vehicle in the woods near their home and never returned. The ATV was found right away, with Gary Parker’s shotgun strapped to it, but the search for the Parkers took a week. They are not believed to have been hunting.

Earlier in the week, the couple’s daughters, Lindsay and Hayley Parker, had notified local police and took to Facebook with a plea to help find their parents.

Officers in Stafford’s ATV Unit, with the assistance of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department’s ATV Unit and State Police aircraft, conducted off-road searches in the Warren Grove area. Last Wednesday, after two full days of searching on foot and with ATVs, K9s and aircraft, they turned the case over to the Ocean County detective bureau and prosecutor’s office. The Warren Grove Fire Co. also assisted.