Missing TCNJ Student’s Purse Found [VIDEO]

The purse, cell phone and car keys of missing College Of New Jersey student Paige Aiello have been found near the George Washington Bridge as new information comes out regarding her recent mood and demeanor.

"It's a very confusing situation," said TCNJ spokesman Matt Golden said of the disappearance of Paige Aiello, a senior communications major from Hillsborough.

Paige Aiello’s father Chris said he spoke with Port Authority Police detectives this morning,   “Port Authority had swept the River and so forth and at least it came back negative.  There were no witnesses, which is a good thing.  Wen her bag was recovered on the George Washington Bridge, the positive is that there was a lot of pedestrian traffic, bicyclists, joggers, so if something had happened, you would think that somebody would have seen it.”

He also said “Today her car was found, but that was in New Brunswick, which is interesting.”  The car, an Audi A4, was found parked on Somerset Street near the Metropark train station.

Aiello added his daughter put a lot of pressure on herself, academically and as a tennis player, and everyone is praying she simply needed so time to be alone, but “that’s obviously looking at the glass half full versus half empty - I’m hoping.”

Today is Paige's 22nd birthday.

"Put A Lot Of Pressure On Herself"

Aiello's sister Erin told the Times of Trenton that her sister had been staying at home lately instead of in her on-campus apartment.

According to Erin, their father drove Paige to TCNJ on Tuesday morning and then brought her back home around 1 p.m.  When Paige's mother returned home at 2:45 p.m. Paige was not home. Her parents then went to Hillsborough Police.

Paige had “put a lot of pressure on herself recently" as graduation approached Erin told MyCentralJersey.com. “With graduation looming, she (Paige) was a little down the past few weeks,” Erin said. “She has been very upset...we didn't want her to be alone."

Paige Aiellio's father Christopher tells Townsquare Media's David Matthau said his daughter has been depressed and put a lot of stress upon her self and hopes she simply felt the need to get away from it all.

TCNJ spokesman Matt Golden said  that while he didn't know Paige personally he heard "nothing but good things about her." He described her as being "very responsible" and having a lot of options.

Paige's father said she had been accepted by nine law schools; Golden said she decided on the Rutgers-Newark law school.

On the TCNJ tennis team website she is listed as a team co-captain.

Paige's father told WINS that “she has been all-conference and has been accepted into approximately nine law schools for next year,” he said. “It’s maybe just too much.”

Anyone with information regarding Aiello's disappearance should contact Hillsborough police at (908) 369-4323 or the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office at 908-575-3300.

David Matthau contributed to this story.