Family of New Jersey woman last seen in 2010 prepares for funeral after remains found in river

A New Jersey family is celebrating and thanking a nonprofit that found human remains believed to belong to their mother who disappeared nearly 14 years ago.

Bernadine Gunner, 52, was reported missing on July 10, 2010. She was last seen in Camden, New Jersey, according to a report from the Camden Police Department. 

According to the Cherry Hill Courier-Post, part of the USA TODAY network, Gunner is on a missing persons list maintained by New Jersey State Police.

On Thursday, three vehicles were found submerged in the Cooper River in New Jersey. On the driver’s side of one of the vehicles were human remains, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

 "The remains are not positively identified yet," a spokesperson for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office told USA TODAY Wednesday morning, adding that they are waiting for DNA testing results.

But in a Facebook post on Saturday, Gunner’s daughter, Julia Young, credited Oregon-based nonprofit United Search Corps with finding her late mother.

Doug Bishop, founder of the nonprofit, told USA TODAY Wednesday morning that a supporter reached out to the group sometime over the past year to ask for help finding Gunner.

Team used SONAR technology to find human remains

The team started in the river due to its proximity to Gunner's home, Bishop told USA TODAY.

“This particular area is obviously the closest body of water to where Bernadine lived, so it made sense to start there,” Bishop told USA TODAY Wednesday morning.

He said his nonprofit has been speaking to authorities every step of the way and the medical examiner's office is still investigating the remains that were found.

Bishop couldn’t say if the river had been searched previously for Gunner’s remains but said the technology his team uses wasn’t available back in 2010. The team uses advanced SONAR systems that give the team readings of what’s underneath water.

“A lot of times, it’s used for vessel navigation and also … fishermen use it to see fish,” he said.

Bishop said it was an honor to help Gunner’s family find answers.

“They were extremely overwhelmed with really simply knowing what happened to their mom,” he said. “The most critical element of a tragedy of this magnitude is answers.”

Late mother was having a difficult time when she went missing

Gunner told her family at the time that she was going to harm herself because she was struggling to find a job, the Camden Police Department reported.

Now that Gunner has been found, her family can bury her properly, her daughter said in her Facebook post Saturday.

“We have closure,” her daughter wrote. “Thank you EVERYONE for the continuous prayers and support.”

Gunner’s daughter also questioned the initial Camden County Police response and noted that it took Bishop's team "to come here and dive into that water and discover my mom.”

Police did not respond to requests for comment on the family’s remarks.

Prosecutors said in addition to the United Search Corps, agencies that helped make the discovery include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Camden County Police Department and more.

Investigators asked anyone with information on Gunner's case to call Detective Ryan Durham of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at (856)  225-5127 or Detective Ryan Hurley of the Pennsauken Police Department at (609) 922-9023.

Bishop, founder of United Search Corps, said he started his organization just over a year ago and he has helped solve dozens of cold cases. His organization couldn’t succeed without supporters and donors, he said. 

“What allows us to even be able to do this is community support,” he said. “Those simple donations that people make create these kinds of results and it's very special when people can contribute something and then we see results of this magnitude. It's very rare.”

To donate, visit www.unitedsearchcorps.org/donate.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at@SaleenMartin or email her atsdmartin@usatoday.com.