Warren Residents Help Find Missing Green Brook Teen

An eight-hour search for a 14-year-old Green Brook boy ended well early Friday, when the missing teen was found in Warren, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano.

In a joint statement with Somerset County Prosecutors Office Chief of Detectives Stuart A. Buckman and Green Brook Township Chief of Police Martin Rasmussen, Soriano said the boy rang on doorbells at houses on Dogwood Lane and Hunter's Trail, in Warren, after 2 a.m., telling the family in one home he was lost. 

Police began searching for the teen, who was last seen at about 6:10 p.m. Thursday at Green Brook Middle School by school maintenance personnel, as he and his family were there to see a production in the school auditorium. 

After the play ended at 7:30 p.m., the teen could not be found and at about 8:10 p.m., school personnel and Green Brook police began searching the school grounds, Soriano said.

The Prosecutor's Office was notified at 8:45 p.m., and the search expanded, with assistance from Green Brook Office of Emergency Management; Green Brook Fire Department; Green Brook Rescue Squad; Somerset County Office of Emergency Management; Somerset County Search and Rescue Team; Somerset County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit; Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team; Somerset County Communications Mobile Command Post; New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit; New Jersey State Police Aviation Unit; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Franklin Township Police and Warren Township Police.

New Jersey State Police searched areas using a helicopter with a spotlight well into the night, but no signs of the teen's location were found until about 2:15 a.m., when a resident of Dogwood Lane reported a teen rang their doorbell and said he was lost. The residents did not open the door but contacted Warren police, who were responding to the scene when a Hunter's Trail resident reported the teen was at their residence at about 2:25 a.m., Soriano said.

Police confirmed the teen was the Green Brook teen who had been missing, and reunited him with his parents at the Green Brook Middle School. 

The teen was evaluated at the scene by Green Brook Emergency Medical Services. Soriano said investigators have ruled out any form of foul play and credit the Dogwood Lane and Hunter’s Trail residents for notifying police immediately, helping end the search and safe recovery of the missing boy.