Missing TCNJ Student's Friends, Family Take Search to Social Media

Police are still seeking to find Paige Aiello, The College of New Jersey senior who was last seen at her parents' Hillsborough home at 1 p.m. Tuesday. No additional information helpful for locating her has been released by authorities since Thursday.

However, as word spread of her disappearance, her friends and family launched online efforts to help find her. 

A Twitter feed — @FindPaigeAiello — is hoping to bring attention to the search by encouraging Twitter users to "retweet" or forward the simple message "Help find paige aiello, a college student at tcnj who recently went missing. Spread the word!"

They've also opened a Facebook page, which has already collected 2,350 "likes."  

Will it help?

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, social media was helpful in resolving 98.5 percent of Amber alerts (from missing children) issued between 2005 and 2009.  

Although some cases have encountered problems with false information posted to the sites, social media sites have more often been helpful in finding a missing person —Thursday, Vienna (Va.) Patch reported on a young woman who had been found after also disappearing Tuesday. 

Aiello, 22, was reported missing Tuesday evening. Her purse, along with her cell phone and car keys, have since been found on the south walkway of the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. The Audi she was driving was located in the Gateway parking garage on Somerset Street in New Brunswick at 10:19 p.m. Wednesday, by New Brunswick police.

Anyone with information about Aiello’s whereabouts can contact the Hillsborough Township Police Department at 908-369-4323, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office at 908-575-3300, the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS(8477) or online at www.888577tips.org or www.scpo.net and click on either “Crime Stoppers” or “TIPS HOTLINE”.

All calls are confidential.