Body Discovered as Police Search for Missing New Jersey Teen

WEST NEW YORK, N.J. – Authorities on Thursday were trying to determine whether the body of a young woman found in a trash bin might be that of an 18-year-old Harrington Park woman who went missing after a night of drinking with a friend in Manhattan.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said around noon that it was planning a statement later in the day regarding the case.

Jennifer Moore left the nightclub Guest House with a friend early Tuesday to find that her car had been towed, New York City police said.

They went to the tow pound on the West Side, where Moore's friend apparently got sick and had to be taken by ambulance to St. Vincent's Hospital.

Moore stayed behind, and according to witnesses, was later seen walking along the highway wearing a white miniskirt and black halter top.

"No one should have to lose a child," her father, Hugh Moore, told reporters outside the family's home Thursday morning. "You can imagine, it's devastating. All the friends, everyone feels they could have done something that could have made a difference.

"She was someone who was smart and bright and funny," he said. "Wrong place, wrong time. It could happen to anybody."

The New York Post reported Thursday that Moore called her boyfriend at about 5 a.m. to say she was lost. He told her to call a taxi. But when the boyfriend tried to call her back a short time later, there was no answer, the newspaper said.

NYPD boats and a helicopter searched for the young woman along the Hudson River shoreline.