Where Is She? A Year Ago, Danielle Went Missing in Pine Barrens

It has been a year since Danielle Evelyn Lopez went missing during a weekend camping trip in South Jersey's Pine Barrens. She hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Danielle's grieving mother, who has already lost her other two children, is planning a vigil to commemorate the sad anniversary at 2:30 pm Sunday, April 13, at Christ Community Church in West Chester, PA, where Danielle grew up.

At the time she went missing, Danielle was 37 and living in Willingboro, NJ.

Danielle was known in her family for having a quick wit and infectious personality that her mom misses deeply.

"Danielle is kind, fun, loving," Quackenbush said. “Her favorite expression, because she is rather loud, is 'you didn’t name me Dan-quiet. You named me Dan-yell.”

Let's take a look back at the events that led up to Daniell's disappearance and the time since, as police and people who knew and loved her have searched for any sign of the woman with the happy smile who suddenly vanished.

Danielle & Her Boyfriend Went Camping

Danielle Lopez last spoke with her mother, Sue Quackenbush, on Friday, April 12, 2024.

She told her mother she was going camping. Danielle spoke with her mother from the campground and seemed in good spirits.

"We just spoke for a while, and I told her I loved her," Quackenbush said.

Lopez told her mother that she was camping in the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest with her boyfriend of seven years.

"She was camping with someone she trusted. She seemed content," Quackenbush said. "She said she was warm. She had a propane heater. After that, every day I tried to reach her and I wasn't able to."

At 9:11 am Saturday, April 13, 2024, Danielle was seen at Wawa on Route 72 in Vincentown.

Danielle’s mother believes she was with someone when she was leaving Wawa, but says it doesn’t appear she was in immediate danger.

There is store video footage of Danielle at the Wawa that morning. In a screenshot, Danielle is seen leaving the store after buying a cup of coffee.

Several hours later, Danielle was spotted driving down Lost Lane Road in Penn State Forest. After a few minutes, she was seen walking. She asked a couple for help because her car was stuck in the mud, but they declined.

This couple left a single woman with a disabled car on the side of a very quiet road just before dark. It would be the last time anyone remembers seeing Danielle.

The couple had been filming with a GoPro camera in the area, and they later turned that footage over to the State Police.

Police say Danielle was alone in the video and did not appear to be in distress. She was last believed to be wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and light-colored shoes.

NJ State Police Sergeant Ryan Labriola spoke with NBC Dateline and talked about finding Daniell's car, a  2008 2-door blue Hyundai Accent.

“The car was located on May 1. It was located on Lost Lane, which is a heavily wooded area in the Woodland Township, and it was found in a large puddle, basically on a dirt road,” Det. Sgt. Labriola said.

That location was approximately 13 miles away from the Wawa where Danielle had been seen on April 13.

“A search warrant was authorized and executed on that car,” the detective continued, adding that the battery was dead and the car needed to be jumped. “After we jumped it, the hazard lights came on.”

The boyfriend Lopez was camping with told investigators he last saw her on the morning of April 13, police said.

He is currently in state prison on a matter unrelated to Danielle's disappearance, according to prison records. I found it odd that he dated Danielle for seven years, but there is no record of his name or any other aspect of their relationship.

Less than a month later, Danielle’s father died. Then, just a month before she disappeared, Danielle had to make the hard decision to put her dog, Roscoe, down.

If you have any information about Lopez, call New Jersey State Police at 609-882-2000, ext. 2554 or call the CUE Center for Missing Persons’ 24-hour tip line at 910-232-1687.