No cause of death yet for Collingdale woman found in Camden lot

An autopsy performed Monday on the badly decomposed remains of a young Collingdale woman missing for two weeks was unable to determine a cause of death, Camden County authorities said.

The condition of Jenna Lord's body made it impossible to identify how she died or to perform toxicology tests, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. There were no obvious signs of foul play, he said.

Investigators are looking into whether other tests could reveal how Lord, 23, died, he said.

Lord's remains were discovered Sunday in a vacant lot in Camden, where the body was likely exposed to the heat and rain for some time, Laughlin said.

Family members found her body at Fifth and Division streets, blocks from where surveillance video captured Lord boarding a PATCO train bound for Philadelphia on July 5. Subsequent videos showed her on a return train to Camden.

"I just want to see her beautiful face one more time," Lord's mother, Desiree Caruso, said Monday.

Lord, who had a 2-year-old son, attended a barbecue at her grandmother's Collingswood home on July 4. Early the next morning, she left Caruso a voice mail from the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, using a phone borrowed from a man family have described as a U.S. Marine. Lord's cell phone was dead, her mother said.

The man bought a ticket for Lord, but his train arrived first, Caruso has said. When Caruso later spoke to the Marine, he said that Lord had looked "a little scared."

Authorities and family members don't know what Lord did after she left her grandmother's. In Philadelphia, she got off the train at the Gallery at Market East in Center City. Video there shows Lord talking to a woman and two men. Lord took what looked to be clothing from the woman, then boarded a train back to Camden, according to police.

"It appears that she was coming and going from Philadelphia of her own free will," Laughlin said.

Members of Lord's family have blasted some local authorities, who they say didn't do enough to find Lord.

"They thought she was some junkie. That's how it felt to me," Caruso, with whom Lord lived, said Monday.

Lord, who had dropped out of Strath Haven High School in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, pleaded guilty to marijuana possession in 2007 and was given 30 days' probation and community service in Delaware County, according to court records.

In April, she was arrested in Darby Township on charges of robbery, aggravated assault, theft, simple assault, and terroristic threats, records show. A July 6 preliminary hearing had been continued to Tuesday.

Caruso said her daughter had been off drugs for a few months. She has no idea, she said, what cost Lord her life.

"Even if she relapsed, she would have called," Caruso said. "We would have yelled at her. . . . [But] she knows she was always welcome home, no matter what."

On July 6, family members reported Lord missing to Collingdale police, and the Delaware County department led the investigation, according to Collingdale Chief Robert Adams.

He said Collingdale entered Lord into the National Crime Information Center, a computerized index that includes missing persons and fugitives.

Collingdale notified Collingswood police of the missing-person report on July 6, Adams said. He added that the Marine was not a suspect in the case.

Collingdale and Collingswood detectives searched for Lord in Camden and Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday, Adams said. Collingdale police were given Lord's photo.

The department also followed up on tips that Lord had been seen in Florida and Massachusetts, he said.

Detectives from both locations viewed surveillance of Lord at the Camden transportation center, said Collingswood Police Chief Richard Sarlo. The Collingswood location where Lord was last seen was visited by police at least twice, Sarlo said.

"As much as we try to do what we can, sometimes the end result is not good. It's sad," he said. "I don't care if you're the best person in the world or the worst person, if you're missing, it's a human being."

Adams said Camden police were notified of the investigation during the week of July 5.

Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson issued a statement Monday, the day after family members found Lord's body within hours of launching their own search of the city.

Camden police worked with Lord's family and Collingdale authorities, Thomson said. In addition to making repeated police radio broadcasts about the case, city officers distributed missing-person fliers and searched with about 50 of Lord's family and friends on Sunday, Thomson said.

"I just want to put Jenna to rest, where she belongs," Caruso said on Monday.