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New Jersey couple disappear after driving into Pine Barrens
By Conor Skelding and Dean Balsamini
November 27, 2021 5:06pm Updated

Gary and Lorraine Parker.
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A New Jersey couple mysteriously vanished after venturing into the Pine Barrens.

Gary Parker, 67, and his wife Lorraine, 60, of Warren Grove, N.J., drove into the protected wilderness reserve that covers more than a million acres — but didn’t return, according to reports.

Their ATV was later found by their wooded home with a shotgun still strapped to it.

The couple’s chilling disappearance has prompted large-scale searches and desperate pleas from family.

The Parkers were last seen Nov. 17, but a neighbor told cops she spoke with Lorraine sometime last weekend, according to the Asbury Park Press.

An official search began Tuesday. Their daughter, Lindsay Parker, posted that her parents were missing at 12:41 a.m. that morning. She wrote on Facebook later that day that her parents’ ATV was found near their home.

“My parents quad has been found along with my father’s shotgun which was strapped to it. Still no sign of either of my parents,” she wrote. “Their quad was found stuck in a field not far from their home that my dad has used for years to bait deer. Trail cam footage has nothing after footage captured last week.”


Police haven’t said when the couple went missing, according to Patch.com. Capt. James Vaughn, of the Stafford police, said he didn’t believe the couple went hunting, noting that in the rural community “many people […] have shotguns readily available,” according to the Sandpaper.

Vaughn also said that even if the couple was out in the elements for a few nights, he was “hopeful” they could survive because, “[T]hey are both avid outdoors people,” he told the outlet.

When the two-day manhunt — which included more than 100 searchers, police dogs, ATVs, drones, and air support — failed to find the couple, Stafford police on Wednesday turned the search over to its detectives and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Their quad was found stuck in a field not far from their home..."

That's curious.

Jersey Devil got them.

I'd look into their kids finances.
Or, their will!

Good one deflave. I saw that show. What is weird, last we saw the guy they were supposed to murder was running off into the pine barrens with a couple of bullets in him. we never saw what happened to him.

The mysterious pine barrens.

Great episode.

Yep...

The Pine Barrens is a vast area, and hides it's many secrets well. I've spent a lifetime hiking, canoeing, hunting and fishing there, and because of the sameness of the terrain and lack of landmarks, it would be easy to get lost, or conceal evidence of a crime.

And then again, there is the Jersey Devil...

You beat me to it.

Yeah I'm sure it's a real mother fugker.

LOL

Get real.

Very weird to say the least. Why would they wander off where no one could find them if they were so close to their home?

Two boomers step off the pavement. Get lost. Die. Many such cases!

They live/lived in the sticks.

How big, acreage wise is the Pine Barrens roughly? I went to trade school with a guy from NJ who was always talking about it like it’s some uncharted wilderness. My map shows the whole damn state of NJ being slightly larger than the county I live in, which sorta scratches the vast wilderness theory unless there’s some hellacious terrain I didn’t notice last time I passed by.

I hunt quail in the Pine Barrens, I would not want to get lost in a Pine Barren swamp!

Why'd you have to bring Bristoe into this!?

It said 1 million acres. Which sounds huge, but is roughly the same as 40 miles by 40 miles (1600 sq miles). It's large.. but if you've been out west, it's not that impressive. Could definitely get lost in 1600 square miles if you get turned around on an overcast day and head in deeper.

I've never hunted true flatland. But I bet it would bve easy to get twisted up.

Twice if been completely lost.
Bo th times it involved a dome shaped ridge/mountaintop. I didn't realize
I wasn't going straight, and went around the dam circle. I'd guess that very
few of the people that get hopelessly lost and die or need rescuing , use
anywhere near 1600 square miles doing it. Bet most pull it off in 160. Unless
they can see help outside that area.

We know it was wet. Not a good time to go hiking...

I believe if I were looking for them, I'd go out with an airhorn and let them find me.

Probably stumbled onto someones marijuana crop. SSS