A body was found in the Cooper River. DNA just connected it to a 15-year-old case.
Bernadine Gunner was reported missing by family members on July 11, 2010.
A North Texas DNA lab confirmed the identity of a missing Camden woman who was discovered in a submerged car in the Cooper River last year.
According to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Bernadine Gunner was reported missing by family members on July 11, 2010. Gunner, who was 52 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen driving her 2006 blue Hyundai Elantra after threatening to take her own life, the prosecutor’s office said.
On May 16, 2024, the prosecutor’s office and multiple other agencies recovered remains from the car after it was towed from the river. Bode Technology, a private forensic DNA laboratory in Virginia, assisted with extracting DNA from the remains. From there, the DNA was sent to the University of North Texas’s Center of Human Identification for comparison, which confirmed Gunner’s identification on April 16.
Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay, in a statement, said she was happy law enforcement and volunteers could help bring some closure to Gunner’s family after 15 years.
“Missing person cases are heartbreaking because family members are left wondering what happened to their loved one,” MacAulay said. “While we strongly believed the remains recovered from the Cooper River belonged to Bernadine, the confirmation through forensic DNA testing finally provides her family with a definitive answer and closure.”
According to NJ 101.5, Gunner’s family held a memorial for her on Saturday. In a Facebook post from April 19, Gunner’s daughter, Julia Young, said the family will never fully know the truth.
“I can’t truly say if it’s really closure to me at this point. I know will probably never find out what really happened, so that right there is a hard pill to swallow,” Young wrote. ”I want to thank everyone for always keeping us in your thoughts and prayers."