Cops say ex sent angry texts before NJ woman vanished
A Freehold Township woman who went missing on Oct. 30 received angry texts from her ex-boyfriend before she vanished, prosecutors told a Superior Court judge on Tuesday.
John Ozbilgen, 29, was released from custody on Tuesday. He is charged with possession of child pornography, which investigators said they found on his phone during their search for Stephanie Parze.
Prosecutors had tried to keep Ozbilgen locked up and cited his angry text messages, which officials did not quote in detail.
Officials also confirmed Tuesday for the first time that investigators had found more images of child sexual exploitation on Ozbilgen's phone — as many as 10 images with prepubescent children.
Ozbilgen was already facing charges of domestic violence. In September, Ozbilgen was accused of hitting a woman's hand, "causing injury to her thumb and thumbnail," and hitting the side of her head with the back of his hand. That victim has been identified in the press as Parze.
In June, a different woman accused Ozbilgen of "pulling her hair and dragging her by her hair causing minor injury and pain/discomfort." That charge was later dismissed.
Police have not charged Ozbilgen or anyone else in connection with Parze's disappearance.
Parze posted on her Facebook page in August that she was "in a relationship" with Ozbilgen and shared a number of posts with pictures of them together. Their relationship status on their profiles has since been changed to "single."
Parze has been missing since Oct. 30 after she went with her family and friends to a medium in New Brunswick before returning to her late grandmother's home, where she was living.
Police were called the next day when her family could not reach her by phone. Parze left behind her car, phone, purse, and shoes that she wore that night.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office along with the NYPD have conducted several searches of Long Pond Park, a 91-acre Staten Island park not far from Route 440 and the Outerbridge Crossing.
Authorities did not say what investigators were looking for or if the search will pick up elsewhere.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ
More from New Jersey 101.5