Photo: Facebook
On Friday, authorities descended uponthe home of John Ozbilgen, 29,of Freehold, who’d begun a relationship in August withStephanie Parze, who’s been missing since late October,theAsbury Park Pressreports.
Ozbilgen, until recently a stockbrokerwhoworked on Staten Island,has been named a person of interestin the case, theAsbury Park Press,ABC7 Eyewitness News, and NBC New York report, citing law enforcement sources. Ozbilgen has not been charged in connection with Parze’s disappearance.
(Freehold Township Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)
More than a dozen police cruisers were seen parked in front of Ozbilgen’s home Friday morning, theAsbury Park Pressreports.
Stephanie Parze, 25, of New Jersey.
Police also confiscated two other electronic devices, the affidavit says.
Ozbilgen was arrested at his home Friday andcharged with one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child– possession of child pornography, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office says in a statement.
Ozbilgen faces up to five years in prison if he is convicted.
Ozbilgen was detained in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township pending a detention hearing in Superior Court.
He has not yet entered a plea. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Freehold Township Police Department
Monmouth County Prosecutor spokesman Chris Swendenman told theAsbury Park Pressthat the search of Ozbilgen’s home was related to Parze’s disappearance but that the arrest on child pornography charges is unrelated.
Ozbilgen and Parze entered their relationship on Aug. 19, according to Parze’s Facebook page.
‘I Just Want Her Home,’ Says Mom
Parze’s trip to a medium was part of a“girls night out,”her father, Ed Parze, told theAsbury Park Press.
The group returned to her parents’ house at about 10 p.m., the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said on Facebook Nov. 2.
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.
Their fears escalated when they went to the Meadowbrook Lane home to check on her and found her car in the driveway – and saw that she had 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.”
Parze’s distraught family has been tirelessly searching for her, posting fliers everywhere they can.
“We just want to find her,” Ed Parze told News 12 New Jersey.
Parze had been dating a man on and off and was “likely” with him that night, her parents told News 12 at the time.
Outgoing and social, Parze “makes everybody feel welcome, regardless of who you are,” her friend, Amanda Gonzalez told theAsbury Park Press.
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Her mother told News 12, “I just want her home.”
Parze is described as 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 115 lbs with brown eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing jeans, a burgundy v-neck shirt and a burgundy sweater.
A family friendstarted a GoFundMe campaignNov. 4 to support Parze’s family during the search.
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.
source: people.com
