Missing 87-year-old woman found dead in Toms River snow

TOMS RIVER — An 87-year-old woman who went missing early Thursday after the nor'easter was found dead in a snowbank.

A search was called by Toms River Police after she was reported missing by relatives from her home at the Oak Grove Mobile Park around 4:30 a.m., police said. Snow was still falling at the time.

The East Dover Fire & EMS and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Division joined the search for the woman, who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's disease, police said.

She was found a mile from her home in the snow about two hours later, police said.

Police said criminal activity was not suspected in her death.

In a separate incident late Wednesday night,  a tree branch fell onto a 40-year-old man as he slept in a homeless camp near the NJ Transit bus terminal, police said. The man was pinned to the ground by the branch, and then hospitalized after the branch heavy with snow was lifted off him, according to police.

Police have not released the identities of either the deceased woman or the man.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ