N.J. Woman, 25, Goes Missing After Visiting Medium With Family: 'We Just Want to Find Her'

N.J. Woman, 25, Goes Missing After Visiting Medium With Family: 'We Just Want to Find Her'

A desperate search is underway for a missing 25-year-old New Jersey woman who vanished shortly after visiting a medium with her family five days ago.

On Wednesday night, Stephanie Parze, 25, of Freehold Township, went to see a local medium with relatives, for a “girls night out,” her father, Ed Parze, told the Asbury Park Press.

The group returned to her parents’ house at about 10 p.m., the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in an announcement on Facebook Saturday.

Parze then left for her late grandmother’s home on nearby Meadowbrook Lane, about 10 minutes away, where she’d been staying, sending a Snapchat to her family during the drive home, her father, Ed Parze, told News 12 New Jersey.

That was the last time her parents heard from her.

They grew worried when she failed to show up to watch a family member’s children the next day.

“She’s not the type of person who wouldn’t text, ‘Hey mom, I’m on my way to work,’” her father told the Asbury Park Press.

N.J. Woman, 25, Goes Missing After Visiting Medium With Family: 'We Just Want to Find Her'
N.J. Woman, 25, Goes Missing After Visiting Medium With Family: 'We Just Want to Find Her'

The family’s fears escalated when they went to the home on Meadowbrook Lane to check on her daughter and found her car in the driveway – and discovered that she’d left her cell phone behind.

“She would never go out of the house without her phone,” Sharlene Parze told News 12 New Jersey. “And she was supposed to be at work and she never showed up. Everything is just not her. … I had just left her. And she was supposed to text me when she got home and she never did, but we know that she made it home because her car was in the driveway.”

On Parze’s phone was a text from the family member whose children she was supposed to watch, wondering where she was.

“Once my wife saw that text message, she started freaking out,” Ed Parze told News 12 New Jersey.

Police continue to search for clues about Parze’s whereabouts.

Her distraught family is also searching for her, posting fliers everywhere they can.

“We just want to find her,” Ed Parze told News 12 New Jersey.

Her daughter had been dating a man on and off and was “likely” with him that night, her parents told News 12.

The oldest of four daughters, Parze graduated from Freehold Township High School, studied cosmetology and works as a wax specialist at European Wax Center in Freehold Township and as a makeup artist at L.A. Artistry in Jackson, according to her Facebook page.

Outgoing and the one who organized social outings, Parze “makes everybody feel welcome, regardless of who you are,” her friend, Amanda Gonzalez told the Asbury Park Press.

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In the meantime, her distraught family is waiting for any word about where she is.

“You don’t know what’s going on,” her father told News 12 New Jersey, breaking down in tears. “You’re thinking the worst.”

Her mother, wearing a necklace bearing the names of her four daughters, told News 12, “I just want her home.”

Parze is described as 4 feet, 11 inches tall, weighing 115 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing jeans, a burgundy v-neck shirt and burgundy sweater.

Anyone with any information or who has had contact with Parze should contact Detective Shawn Murphy of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-431-7160 ext. 7032, or Detective Daniel Valentine of the Freehold Township Police at 732-462-7908.