Where Is Belinda Prentice? Mystery deepens in NJ grandmother's disappearance

What one family in New Jersey is doing to try and search for their missing grandmother. She has now been missing for more than two weeks. Her name is Belinda Prentice, 71 years old, last seen October 5th near Bamberg Court. That is in Somerset, New Jersey, not too far from the city, probably about 45 minutes outside of the city. We know a lot of people, they commute from there, and certainly it's a big town, big city. Her family says she's dealing with cognitive impairments, making her disappearance especially concerning. Well, her granddaughter, you just saw her there, turning to social media and the community, hoping someone has seen something that can help bring her home. Sienna Benjamin is on the line with us this morning. Sienna, good morning to you. Hi, good morning. Thanks, Dan. I really appreciate you reaching out so that we can be on the news and spread the word here. yeah and you know what your your um post it came across my feed um you know it was one of those things that i wasn't expecting to hear it so see it it just sort of comes through and it struck me your your post here um because it seems like there's just not a lot of answers i guess first just tell me about your grandma uh belinda um she's has she lived in somerset uh for a while Where's she from? What's going on? Yes, she's lived in Somerset for as long as my mother has been a teenager. So she's been tied to Somerset for maybe 30, 40 years now. Every time I went over to her house, that was her house. So we've been in Somerset my entire life. Those are her ties with Somerset as of right now. She's lived in the same home, and that's where she disappeared as well and so what do we know about the disappearance um she's 71 years old uh she was last seen on october 5th so we're talking two weeks i mean that's that's a long time you know i mean what what do we know about her disappearance where did she vanish from what's going on yes uh so she was last seen near her home um there's a golf course nearby bamberg court uh new brunswick road area. One of her neighbors actually saw her. She's known to be very friendly, say hello to strangers, talk to strangers for quite a bit, has a very fiery and warm presence. So her disappearance was noticed, if we're going to be honest here. No one was able to identify exactly what she was wearing just before she disappeared. One thing that we do know is that she usually wears a head covering um like the one that you see in the photo above as well as um she's on foot so she doesn't have a car she's on foot walking around and you know obviously this is something that i mean the police are looking into it now i know um the uh officers down there in Franklin Township actually put out a post just yesterday also urging the public to come forward i mean have you how have you been able to be in touch with law enforcement have they been able to help um what's been the response so far from local police? Yes, I have direct access to our detective here. I'm really grateful for the support of the community because whenever they see anybody that matches her description generally, I'm one of the first people to receive it if they have not reported it to the police. So I am sending that over to the detective. The detectives have been very responsive to that. I do encourage if you do see a sighting of anybody matching her description. She's about 5'4", 135 pounds, darker skin tone. Like I said, usually wearing a head covering. Please call your local police station that you saw her at. Because of so much support that we have, the Franklin Township Police Department is dealing with a little bit of overwhelm with tips. And we're actually teaming up and branching out with other cities out in New jersey and so um right now one of the things uh that we do know is there's some cognitive issues uh that that may be going on anything you can um sort of share with us about that um she may be confused honestly um so i'm asking the public to just not approach her personally um just in case she gets confused or scared so if you see her calling the police to have them intervene is the best course of action the safest for everyone that's involved yeah and um we do have uh some viewers who are weighing in this morning uh thank you so much for airing the story of miss belinda patience uh the missing grandma uh bettina from Avenel, I'm not sure exactly where that is but uh we appreciate you chiming in um or at least weighing in on this and Sienna just just last thing that i'll ask you here was she you guys are looking for i mean anybody who may have seen something on um you know on a on a ring camera or surveillance video i mean you guys are looking everywhere at this point is there any indication that there may be you know the the word foul play uh is is what sometimes they talk about or do you think that she may have just wandered off and is confused and i mean what what's your gut feeling here at this point it could be anything um i am trying my best to encourage our community to let us know if they see anything because she could just be walking around right now um what the detectives are focused on is getting any type of footage so that we can get a clothing description in particular so that maybe she'll be easier to spot um there have been sightings that aren't confirmed just yet that match her personality pretty well um so we are just trying to get our first sighting out of this um and if it has to escalate we will look to that but for now we're just trying to get some type of footage some type of description all right um thank you very much Sienna Benjamin uh granddaughter of Belinda Prentice, a 71 year old grandmother from Somerset, New Jersey down there Franklin Township uh uh not not too far from the city she's missing um and uh we we hope that um someone out there maybe you've seen something uh can we bring up the flyer just one last time um because maybe we could put the number up there just get a get a quick photo of her um yeah okay so the uh the number that they're asking Franklin Township Police Department 732-873-2300 732-873-2300 um sienna thank you very much she posted that to her instagram it has gone viral out there and you never know you know you never know you put the word out maybe it makes a difference um and we'll be sure to keep you updated sienna thank you so much best of luck to you uh and your family Thank you.