Body in Minivan Backseat ID'd as Missing Mom

Dec. 5, 2007 — -- The search for a Pennsylvania mother of three who disappeared a week ago under unusual circumstances may be over, but the mystery surrounding her case is not.

Police in Falls Township, Penn., have confirmed to ABC News that the body of Gina Marie Bobbing-Mormando was found early this morning in the backseat of her family's minivan. The body was identified by her family members, said Lt. Ron MacPherson, Falls Township police spokesman.

Preliminary autopsy results are expected by the end of the day, MacPherson said, adding that they will likely determine whether Bobbing-Mormando killed herself or was the victim of a crime. Additional toxicology results could take up to six weeks.

The body of the woman, who disappeared a week ago after a minor fender bender, did not show any immediate signs of foul play, MacPherson said. The car was parked in the overflow parking lot of a Falls Township bar behind the building for several days. A female employee of the bar contacted police after reading about Bobbing-Mormando in the newspaper this morning after a late shift, MacPherson said. Police made the discovery around 4 a.m.

Late Tuesday, Bill Bobbing laid out the details of his daughter's disappearance, which began a week ago after the 32-year-old mother evidently was involved in a minor traffic accident on her way to a Social Security office.

"She was going up there to finally get her name changed," Bobbing said, recounting the mysterious pattern of events that played out Nov. 28 after she dropped her three children, ages 5, 3 and 1, off with their grandmother to run some errands.

In the week since, work by investigators and a handful of unusual clues have shed some light on what may happened during her trip that afternoon.

"She called her husband to say she was getting gas," Bobbing told ABC News, adding that a $20 debit from her bank account was traced to a gas station. Surveillance video shows her entering the store, Bobbing said, adding it was the last phone call she made and the last time her debit card was used.

The morning of Nov. 29, Bobbing said, after his daughter failed to arrive home the day before, someone accessed the voice mail on the woman's phone four times in a six-minute span, according to her phone records.

The calls to voice mail came from the woman's cell phone, Bobbing said, and the phone companies are trying to determine the general area in which the calls were made.

Friday, an insurance agent called Bobbing-Mormando's home and informed Michael Mormando, her husband of more than two years, that she had gotten into a minor accident with another motorist near the Social Security building Nov. 28.

"That was news to us," Bobbing said of the crash, in which paperwork was apparently exchanged, but no police arrived.

Bristol Township Police Lt. John Godzeba told the Bucks County Courier Times Tuesday that the other driver had no significant information to give police.

"He said she seemed fine," Godzeba said. "Other than that she was just a little upset about being in the accident."

Bobbing-Mormando's family then spent the weekend calling everyone their daughter knew and canvassing the area for any sign of her or her car.

They went to hospitals and checked for patients admitted since Nov. 28 under the names Bobbing and Mormando. They also inquired about Jane Doe patients who may have arrived for treatment. A MySpace page offering a basic description of what happened Nov. 28 as well as photos of the woman with her husband and children was created to raise the profile of her case.

"Those were some of the things we were able to do," Bobbing said. "You have this feeling like you have to do something."

Bobbing's family also went to the Social Security office with a photograph of the missing mother to ask whether anyone remembered seeing her. No one on the staff did and she had not signed in at the federal building's front desk.

Bobbing, the son of a Philadelphia police officer, admitted some frustration with authorities at the outset of the investigation, but he also said that adult missings persons cases are not always a top priority. "Typically, adults that are missing, maybe they don't want to be found," he said.

Mormando, who works by day for a concrete contractor alongside the husband of Bobbing-Mormando's sister and moonlights as a real estate agent, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Still, he's been actively involved in the search and told ABC News' Philadelphia affiliate WPVI that he and his wife were having no noticeable problems.

"It has been a nightmare," Mormando said. "I can't even explain it? This isn't right. Her children are her life."

Bobbing said he doubted that she would be so frightened by her husband's reaction to the fender bender that she would harm herself.

Bobbing-Mormando, a native of Bensalem, had recently returned to school to work on a nursing degree that got sidetracked when she took time off to care for the youngest of her three children.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.