Quest for answers

Investigators await the findings of the Office of the County Medical Examiner in the case of a Middlesex Borough woman, Jennifer Panek, whose body was found three weeks ago not far from her home, the day after she was reported missing.

“The investigation is still ongoing pending Medical Examiners findings,” Brynn Krause, a public information officer for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO)), wrote in a Thursday, Feb. 27 email. Krause was responding to an inquiry from Inside – Middlesex asking if the prosecutor’s office was currently involved in the case.

Panek was reported missing on Friday, Feb. 7. Her body was found in Haverstick Park the following day, less than a half-mile from her home. Panek suffered from postpartum anxiety and depression after the birth of her daughter last August, according to her family.

The Middlesex Police Department’s handling of the search for Panek, was questioned at the Borough Council’s Tuesday, Feb. 25 meeting by Grandview Street resident William Galtieri. He is a friend of the Panek family.

Galtieri requested that the governing body ask the prosecutor to review local police efforts to find Panek. But as confirmed by Krause, the prosecutor’s office has continued to remain involved in the investigation into Panek’s passing since the case began three weeks ago.

Middlesex Borough Police Chief Matt Geist referred inquiries about the Panek case to the MCPO. “This is protocol since the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office partnered with us with the missing person investigation,” Geist said in an email on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Galtieri is a former Franklin Township Councilman who moved to the borough in recent years. Several more Panek family supporters were in the meeting audience as Galtieri spoke.

Middlesex police sent out a social media alert to the community on Friday, Feb. 7 that Panek had gone missing. Galtieri alleged that the MPD restricted the search by not bringing in needed resources and turning away volunteers willing to help.

He referred to the search for an alligator that was spotted loose at Victor Crowell Park in 2023. “More time and effort appears to have been spent searching for the alligator,” Galtieri said, “than for our friend who was suffering a mental health crisis.”

The MPD held its popular Coffee with a Cop at the Middlesex Elks Lodge on Feb. 8, the same day that Panek’s body was found. Galtieri questioned whether “allocating resources” for that event took precedence over the search for Panek.

“If people who love Jen were willing to drop everything and search, why were they turned away?” Galtieri asked. “Why were they prevented from going to places she was known to visit and was ultimately discovered in?”

“How would you feel if you saw officers and elected officials smiling away in a warm building drinking coffee,” Galtieri asked the council, “while your significant other was out missing on a cold winter night?”

Along with seeking a county prosecutor review of local police procedures, Galtieri said Panek’s friends hope to see security cameras placed in local parks and a registry of residential surveillance systems created by the MPD.

Borough Attorney Chris Corsini advised council members to “take (Galtieri’s request) under advisement and talk to the chief.”

Galtieri, however, questioned why the council would bring the matter back to the MPD, when that was the entity for which he has concerns.

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