Middlesex County

Search teams seeking troubled 18-year-old

Home News Tribune Online 10/27/05

By MARY ANN BOURBEAU
STAFF WRITER
mabourb@thnt.com

EAST BRUNSWICK — Area search and rescue dogs, fresh off the job of finding a missing Sayreville boy last week, were put to work again yesterday, this time searching for an 18-year-old man who threatened to kill himself because his girlfriend broke off their relationship.

Police said Michael Berger was sitting in a car with his former girlfriend, a resident of South River, at 3:42 a.m. yesterday in Pine Ridge Park. Berger, who lived in East Brunswick until August and now lives in King of Prussia, Pa., had taken a train to New Brunswick. His girlfriend picked him up and the couple drove to the park to talk.

The discussion turned into an argument, causing Berger to get out of the car, smash a bottle of vodka, pick up a shard of glass and threaten to kill himself. He ran into the woods adjacent to the park, and the girlfriend called police, who started a search that lasted throughout the day.

Police said that even though Berger is an adult, he was entered into the state and national computer databases as a missing endangered person because he intended to harm himself.

Berger is described as a white man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 170 pounds, cleanshaven, with brown hair styled in a buzz cut. He was wearing blue jeans, a tan shirt and no coat.

Police do not believe Berger has any friends or family members in East Brunswick. New Brunswick

police checked the city's train station and questioned taxi companies, but came up with no evidence that he went back there, so police conducted the search as if Berger was still on foot.

East Brunswick police, emergency management personnel from the township and Middlesex County, and state police using a helicopter searched the park early yesterday morning into the afternoon. East Brunswick police continued to search for Berger last night by checking area bus stations and taxi stands, Lt. William Krause said. Police also were trying to contact one of Berger's relatives in Pennsylvania, where the teen may have gone, Krause said.

"We will continue to look for him as the night goes on until we learn he is safe," Krause said.

Volunteers from the East Brunswick Independent Fire Company used thermal-imaging cameras to search the dark woods for a heat source earlier yesterday.

Dan Cone, assistant chief of the Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team, arrived at 9 a.m. yesterday. His volunteer team members, who left their jobs when notified of the situation, were on the scene by 11:30 a.m.

More than a dozen emergency vehicles lined the streets of Pine Ridge Drive and Daniel Place during the search for Berger.

"We search segments of the area based on his profile," Cone said. "We look at his age, how familiar he is with the area and try to determine which direction he might have traveled. We'll stay here until police or a responsible authority says to shut things down."

At about noon, the scent-tracking dogs arrived to help determine Berger's path. Barry Orange, a Clark veterinarian and volunteer with Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team, brought his 3-year-old bloodhound, Liberty, to join in the search.

The quick call-up of K-9 search teams yesterday in East Brunswick — they were paged about 7:30 a.m. — was a direct result of the successful search for the 10-year-old Sayreville boy, said Eric Martin, chief of Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team.

"That search opened people's eyes to the resources available," Martin said.

Liberty, an 85-pound, caramel-colored scent-specific trailing dog, was trained as a search dog starting at 3 months old. Orange swabbed sterile gauze pads on the passenger seat, dashboard, headrest and armrest of the girlfriend's red Acura, which was still parked in front of the park's tennis courts.

"We take swabs from whatever he might have touched," Orange said. "We'll see if she can pick up at least a direction of travel."

Orange then gave the swabs to Liberty and the two went off on a search that led them up the concrete steps and into the woods, indicating that Berger seemed to have walked toward the Edgeboro Road area.

Liberty picked up Berger's scent but lost it in the stiff breeze, Martin said. Before losing the scent, however, the dog was heading back to the home of the teen's former girlfriend, he said.

"I think we got the best out of our effort today," Martin said. "I'm confident he was not lying there injured in our search area."



Contributing:

Kristin Boyd  and Ken Serrano