Roberta Anne Michels-Hopkins was 29 when she vanished from Camden, New Jersey, in the winter of 1981. Family accounts say she left home one February day to run an errand—possibly to buy cigarettes and food stamps—and never returned. No official missing person report was filed at the time, and the family says that early investigative steps were therefore never taken.

Details about what happened are contradictory. An explanation that she walked out during a blizzard has been questioned because reports indicate it barely snowed that February. Some relatives later suspected suicide, involvement in the local drug scene, or that she intentionally left; others thought she might have moved to Florida, but Roberta’s personal belongings were left behind. Many contemporaries who might have known more are now deceased.

A DNA match discovered by her granddaughter in 2019 led to the recovery of a letter Roberta wrote days before she disappeared, ending I will no longer bother anyone, anymore. Roberta was officially reported missing in March 2022; the Cinnaminson Police Department and New Jersey State Police are investigating and an age-progressed sketch has been released. Does anyone have memories of Roberta in Camden in 1981 or information that could help the investigation?