Family Searching for Missing Husband and Father of 2
November 10, 2014 - By Jessica Mazzola - NJ
East Orange - Relatives say Edward Wortman is a family man who would not just leave his wife and two small children.
But, when his wife Cherie woke up in the couple’s Colonia home after 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, he was gone. His family members have been looking for him ever since.
“I have seen him everyday since we got married, which was six years ago (on Monday),” Cherie said in a phone interview. “He’s an excellent father. It’s not like he’d just leave.”
According to family members, Wortman was awake Saturday morning, and may have told his 5-year-old daughter that he was heading out to the store, but never came back. Cherie says he left the house without his wallet, license, any extra clothes, or his glasses.
“It just seems like he wasn’t preparing to leave for a long period of time, but like, if anything, he was running out and was coming right back in,” Cherie said. “We just have no idea what we are dealing with here. We really don’t know what happened.”
Wortman was an elementary school teacher at Banneker Academy in the East Orange School District for 10 years, according to his family members. He was suspended from the school with pay in January stemming from an incident that is still under investigation, family members said. They declined to elaborate on the situation.
East Orange school officials did not respond to requests for comment, but Wortman is listed as a faculty member on the Banneker website.
“His students always loved him, and he’s always had a lot of parent support, too,” Wortman’s wife said. “He’s got a very community-oriented background.”
Wortman is originally from the East Orange-Maplewood area.
According to family members, the police departments in both Woodbridge and Rahway have been investigating Wortman’s disappearance.
Woodbridge Police Captain Roy Hoppock said the department has had no leads in its search for Wortman, but said that he is considered missing and endangered due to a medical condition.
“He is considered a missing person and we’ve notified all of the police departments across the state about it,” Hoppock said. “We are doing everything possible, but he doesn’t have anything on him – no cell phone or anything like that. So, it’s been a frustrating search for us and, of course, for the family.”
He added, “we hope he’s OK.”
Cherie said she, Wortman’s Aunt Staci Moore, and other family members have been placing missing posters up around their home for the past 11 days in the hopes that someone might have seen Wortman leave his house, or would recognize him and know his whereabouts.
“It’s just hard, it feels like we are at a stand still,” Moore said. “There’s been no activity on his credit card, there’s no money missing or anything like that. We just don’t know what’s happening and it could be anything.”
Family members said Cherie was sleeping when Wortman disappeared. When she woke up, her 5-year-old daughter said her father left to go to the store, but they are unsure if the young girl got the details right.
"I just don’t know how he left, if he was forced out. Anything could have happened," Cherie said.
"It’s so hard to explain this to our kids, and I just want to know what we are dealing with.”
