One Year After Bridgeton Man Vanished, Family Renews Plea for Leads

A year after 21-year-old Kevin Collins Jr. left Inspira Medical Center in Mannington during a mental-health crisis, his family renewed a public plea for leads at a gathering Friday at the Amy "Hetty" Reckless Center in Salem and said they still have no answers about his whereabouts. New Jersey State Police said Collins walked out of the hospital at approximately 4 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2025, while wearing a patient’s gown and has not been seen since that afternoon.

State Police described Collins as Black, about 5-foot-5 and approximately 115 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes in a Facebook post seeking tips. Family members and community supporters noted that Collins was 21 when he disappeared and that he had just turned 22 earlier this month as the anniversary event unfolded.

Trail-camera and surveillance records remain central to investigators and the family. The patient’s gown was found near the hospital along Salem Woodstown Road, and video from a trail camera showed Collins in a nearby wooded area shortly before 5 p.m. One media account reported surveillance footage captured him "walking unclothed" at about 4:57 p.m.; State Police and courthouse records have not released the footage publicly.

At the Amy "Hetty" Reckless Center, Tinisha Michelle Hall read a statement and thanked supporters while pressing for more clarity. Hall said her son "is not just a headline or a missing poster" and called him "a son, a brother and a deeply loved member of our community." She told the room Collins "is also considered endangered" and asked anyone with information to come forward.

Hall laid out the toll the past year has taken and the hard work of seeking investigative movement. "We have carried not only our grief, but the burden of pushing for movement, clarity, and cooperation," she said. She added that her family has struggled with "the confusion and shifting timelines during the critical early period after Kevin went missing" and described the strategic posture she adopted as the mother of a Black son to try to be heard.

New Jersey State Police said detectives "have carried out extensive search operations and conducted ongoing follow-up efforts in an attempt to determine Kevin’s whereabouts." No arrests, suspects, charges, or additional physical evidence beyond the gown and the camera footage were described at the anniversary event or in statements released to the public.

Supporting networks have remained active online since the disappearance. A Facebook group formed soon after Feb. 27, 2025, to share tips and updates, and Hall posted an emotional message on May 27 marking three months of silence: "Today marks three long months since my little guy, Kevin, went missing. Three months of silence. Three months of aching."

With photos from the gathering credited to Gavin Schweiger, Hall closed the event by renewing the family's pledge to keep Kevin’s name visible. "I wait with hope that refuses to leave, even when the days are heavy," she said, saying life remains difficult "without [her son's] presence at our table, without his voice in our home, without the comfort of knowing where he is or if he is safe.