A South Jersey woman disappeared in 1981 and was never reported missing. Her granddaughter wants to solve the mystery.

On a Tuesday in February, 43 years ago, Roberta Michels-Hopkins supposedly walked out into a blizzard to get cigarettes and food stamps and never returned home.

That image of Michels-Hopkins disappearing into the snow feels like a dream for the granddaughter who never met her. Growing up in South Jersey, Trinity Jagdeo heard other rumors about Roberta, who was 29 with two young children when she disappeared in 1981. Some people thought she died by suicide or may have been using drugs and disappeared onto the streets of Camden, where she was living at the time.

Since Michels-Hopkins was never officially reported missing at the time, all of those rumors just swirled in the air. But even the rumors are unreliable: It barely snowed in February of 1981, let alone a blizzard.

“The possibilities are endless,” Jagdeo, 23, said at her home in Vineland recently. “She could be a murder victim or she could have walked away. It could have been a suicide. I’m open to anything, even the 1% chance she’s still alive somewhere.”

Jagdeo’s endless curiosity, coupled with the dearth of details from her family, compelled her to take a DNA test in 2019. The results revealed family she’d never spoken to on her grandmother’s side, along with a letter that may offer clues into Roberta’s state of mind at the time.

Jagdeo spearheaded efforts to have her grandmother officially reported missing, and in March of 2022, her case was officially entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).

“Family members were told she was running an errand and never returned,” her NamUs profile states.

Through DNA, Jagdeo connected with Judy Erichson, her great-aunt, who is 79 and lives in Burlington County. Erichson told her that Roberta’s partner, Kumar Jagdeo Sr., called her out of the blue in the winter of 1981.

“Your sister disappeared,” he said.

Erichson said she tried to report her sister missing to the Camden Police Department, letting officers know she was suspicious of the disappearance. Erichson said no report was taken at the time or, she claimed, when she called back a month later.

“They said there was nothing they could do,” Erichson said in an interview.

The years rolled on, Erichson said, with no news about her sister. She said a family acquaintance with law enforcement experience tried to get more information at the time, to no avail, and her father made inquiries, years later, about Michels-Hopkins’ small insurance policy, which remains unclaimed today. She has never been declared dead.

“We never had any closure,” Erichson said.

Erichson was able to give Jagdeo photos of Michels-Hopkins, along with letters. One was written just a few days before she was last seen and hints at unspecific family tensions over a missed wedding.

“I will no longer bother anyone, anymore,” Michels-Hopkins wrote at the end.

The letter was mailed on Feb. 17, 1981, the official date of her last-known contact.

While suicide is a possibility, Jagdeo said she hadn’t heard that Michels-Hopkins had ever been suicidal or suffered from mental health issues. There were rumors among family members, she said, that Michels-Hopkins could have been using drugs or making money as a sex worker.

Erichson said her sister, a Pemberton High School graduate, had a seemingly normal life but that changed when she got divorced.

“She had a house, a baby, dogs. Went to the Shore together,” she said. “All of a sudden, she got divorced, moved to Camden, and had a baby. When she got divorced, her husband got custody of their daughter and that was a red flag to me.”

Michels-Hopkins’ ex-husband and daughter both live in Georgia today. Neither returned requests for comment, and Jagdeo said she’s had little communication with either of them.

Kumar Jagdeo Sr., Trinity’s grandfather, lived in Camden for years but ran into legal troubles and died in Trinidad and Tobago nearly 20 years ago. While others have told her it’s not likely, Jagdeo isn’t ruling out the possibility that her grandfather was involved in Michels-Hopkins’ disappearance.

“No one really knew what their relationship was like to say, definitively, ‘oh, that could never happen,’” she said.

Krsna Jagdeo, Trinity Jagdeo’s father, was too young to remember his mother and spent most of his youth in foster care. It was painful to learn, through Trinity Jagdeo’s DNA results, that he had family close by he could have lived with.

“I’ve been without my parents for so long, it’s just another day for me,” Krsna Jagdeo, 43, said. “I’m good with my life.”

Krsna Jagdeo said he’s ready to accept whatever comes of the case.

“At this point, death is death, no matter the story,“ he said. “I’m just trying to support Trinity.”

Michels-Hopkins’ missing persons case will be handled by police in Cinnaminson, Burlington County, not Camden, though it’s unclear why. A detective handling the case declined to comment, but Trinity Jagdeo said the department is working on compiling a sketch that would reveal what Michels-Hopkins could look like today and is also trying to obtain DNA from the stamp on the letter she mailed shortly before she disappeared.

DNA, if viable, could be compared against samples from the thousands of unidentified remains cases in the United States. Trinity Jagdeo granted law enforcement access to her DNA and said her father and Erichson have submitted theirs as well.

Trinity Jagdeo has also taken her case to the internet, posting on missing persons Facebook groups and sites like Websleuths.

“They all want to figure out what happened to her and think the case is so bizarre,” she said. “That’s nice because up until now, I’ve been the only one trying to do that.”

Some online sleuths have noticed similarities between Michels-Hopkins’ case and “the cheerleader in the trunk” case out of Maryland in 1982. That woman remains unidentified today.

Trinity Jagdeo said it’s hard to understand how no report was filed for her grandmother, even in 1981. It’s even harder to fathom how so many people seemingly moved on without her.

“Her parents were still alive. Her brother was still alive. Her ex-husband was still alive,” she said. “Didn’t she have any friends?”

Jagdeo’s mother, Angela Morrison, said that aspect of the case confused her the most.

“I think there’s people out there who know more than what they’re saying,” Morrison said.

Jagdeo said she hopes publicity and posting about her grandmother on internet forums “can shake something loose.” She can imagine a future where there’s a funeral or some closure, particularly for her father.

“That’s kind of the hope anyway,” she said.

Roberta Michels-Hopkins would have turned 72 on Feb. 26.

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Roberta Michels-Hopkins can call the Cinnaminson Township Police Department at (856) 829-6667.