History and mysteries · Brendan T. Byrne State Forest and Woodland
Danielle Lopez: the last sightings on Lost Lane (2024)
Missing person · Reporting reviewed
Surveillance, witness footage and an abandoned car mark separate stages in the search for a woman missing from the Pine Barrens.
A day reconstructed from separate observations
Danielle Lopez, 37, was staying at a Brendan T. Byrne State Forest campground in April 2024. The Inquirer’s August 2026 report places her on Wawa surveillance shortly after 9 a.m. on April 13 and on Lost Lane around 6 p.m. that evening.
The later witnesses were recording with a GoPro. According to investigators’ earlier account to Dateline, summarized by the Inquirer, the footage showed her alone and apparently not distressed. The video has not been publicly released.
The car did not explain the disappearance
Her Hyundai Accent was found disabled on Lost Lane on May 1, after she had been reported missing on April 24. Those dates should not be collapsed into a single last-seen event.
State Police renewed their appeal in April 2026. The August reporting still offered no resolution. The public evidence does not establish where Lopez went after the filmed encounter, or support attributing responsibility to another person.
Two positions on one road need to be separated
A community case compilation says good Samaritans pulled the car from a muddy spot onto flatter ground before police found it. A 2026 forum post presented as a family timeline gives a more detailed account of two GoPro encounters and photographs posted by a tow driver. Those details have not been checked against the original footage, photographs or police record, and the compilation warns that it combines family, press and other material. If the car was moved, its May 1 recovery position cannot automatically stand for the April 13 stuck position. The useful map work is to verify the original footage times and directions, the tow photographs and their locations, and the vehicle recovery record before drawing a route or search sector.
No exact point from those posts is added to the public map. The New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit remains the destination for firsthand information or a possible discovery.
Sources and research limits
Jason Nark, The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18, 2026, timeline and reporting on the investigation. KYW, April 13, 2026, renewed police appeal. Solve the Case compilation and NJPB family-attributed forum account are leads about the car’s possible movement, not verified original scene records.