State Police renew plea for tips in Cumberland County cold cases

State Police are again asking Cumberland County residents to look back through old photographs, neighborhood recollections and half-remembered conversations as two local disappearances, separated by nearly 60 years, remain unsolved. William Ebenezer Jones Jr., a Vineland child last seen in 1962, and Dulce Maria Alavez, who vanished from Bridgeton City Park in 2019, remain at the center of an active search for answers.

William Ebenezer Jones Jr. was last seen on Dec. 17, 1962, in the backyard of his residence in Vineland, according to New Jersey State Police records. Investigators describe him as wearing a blue snow suit with large silver buttons and tan high-top tennis shoes. The agency also says he had a giraffe-shaped vaccination scar on his left outer arm, a detail that could still matter if someone who knew the family, the neighborhood or the clothing remembers one small piece of the day he disappeared.

Dulce Maria Alavez was 5 years old when she was last seen on Sept. 16, 2019, at Bridgeton City Park behind Bridgeton High School in Bridgeton. The FBI said she was wearing a yellow shirt with a koala on the front, black-and-white pants with butterflies and flowers, and white dress sandals. In September 2025, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office said investigators remained committed to locating Dulce and determining what happened to her, and reports that year said New Jersey State Police Special Investigations detectives and AI tools were being used to review the case file. Tips have continued to come in, officials said, and each one is investigated.

The scale of the burden remains stark. A 2024 report said cold cases in Cumberland County numbered more than 40, while a separate New Jersey report cited roughly 450 active unidentified-remains cases statewide in NamUs, some dating back to the 1970s. For families, that means anniversaries do not close the story. They repeat it, year after year, with no ending in sight.

The New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit says residents can still help by calling 609-882-2000 ext. x2554 or by emailing missingpinformation@njsp.gov. Investigators continue to treat these cases as open because a former neighbor, classmate, relative or passerby may still hold the detail that connects an old memory to a name, a place or a timeline. In Cumberland County, where the names Vineland and Bridgeton still carry the weight of these disappearances, that kind of public memory can remain one of the few tools left.