Mom of N.J. teen who went missing for a month beat her, forced her to panhandle, authorities say – NJ.com

The 14-year-old East Orange girl who ran away from home and was missing for a month left because she feared her mother would continue to beat her, authorities said.

The teen also told investigators that her mother forced her to panhandle on the streets and didn’t let her attend school, according to an affidavit of probable cause supporting the two counts of child endangerment filed by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office against her 40-year-old mother Jamie Moore.

During an approximately two-year-period, Moore stabbed her daughter in the shoulder with a steak knife, poured bleach in her eyes, pulled braids out of the girl’s hair and struck her with hangers and a broom handle, the affidavit states. Moore also allegedly hit the teen with a can of air freshener and placed her knees on her the girl’s neck and back.

In addition, Moore didn’t allow her daughter to receive instruction remotely during the 2020-21 school year, instead forcing the teen to take care of her 3-year-old brother, authorities said. Moore also didn’t enroll her daughter in school this school year despite the teen pleading with her mother to let her attend, investigators said.

Moore also threatened her daughter with beatings if she didn’t come home with enough money when sent around East Orange to beg for money, charging documents state.

The morning she went missing — Oct. 14 — the girl had gone to Poppies Deli on Central Avenue at about 7:30 a.m., officials said. She returned home and told her mother that she had lost the debit card she used to pay, authorities said.

Moore ordered her daughter to go back to the store to look for the card but the girl never returned, later telling investigators she “knew she could not go home because mom would beat her and leave her all bruised up,” the affidavit states.

While the teen was missing, authorities conducted extensive searches and offered a reward that eventually climbed to $20,000. Officials said throughout the search that criminality was not suspected. Moore appeared at press conferences with authorities pleading for her daughter’s safe return.

The girl stayed at multiple locations in New Jersey before ending up at a woman’s shelter in Brooklyn, where she was found safe on Nov. 11.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.