Lorraine Rea Herbster

Lorraine Rea Herbster, more commonly known as Lori or Laurie, was born on January 16, 1979, to Betty May (Jones) Herbster and Terry Neil Herbster. Lorraine had three siblings: Christine, Linda, and Joseph. Lorraine attended the Burlington County Vocational and Technical High School Westampton campus but dropped out in her junior year. According to her friend Diane Truitt, Lorraine was studying drafting but seemed more engaged in her upcoming marriage. Lorraine and her fiancé parted ways on Christmas of 1979. On March 9, 1979, Lorraine left her new job at Microcircuit Engineering Corporation located in Mount Holly at about 4:00 p.m. She worked as a Photo Laboratory Technician and had been working there for only a week. Lorraine was given a ride partially home from work by a coworker and exited at the entrance of the Tarnsfield development in Westampton Township, where she lived. Betty Herbster was expecting to meet Lorraine between 4:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Betty had offered to drive Lori to the bank to help her open up her own bank account and cash the paycheck she had received from the day before, but they never met up to go to the bank. Betty simply assumed Lori was running late or that something came up and Lori forgot. Betty indicated that Lori was scheduled to babysit for one of their neighbors, and she felt that she went straight to the babysitting job from work. Lori would regularly babysit for a neighbor on Friday nights, and Betty had assumed Lori had gone there and possibly spent the night. Lori would often stay the night, so her mother did not find it unusual when she was not back home. Mr. and Mrs. Herbster noticed Lorraine was not back home the next day and began calling around. They learned that Lorraine never showed up for her babysitting job, and none of her friends had seen her. At approximately 9:00 a.m., the Herbsters contacted the police to file a missing person report. Lorraine's purse was found in the front yard, and her car was parked in the driveway, although she was not seen arriving home. Lorraine's parents, siblings, ex-boyfriends, and friends were interviewed, but they were all cleared from suspicion. There was once a person of interest that was questioned during the investigation however, no charges could be filed due to a lack of evidence. Lorraine was last seen at approximately 5:15 p.m. on Rancocas Road, walking towards her home.