The worst fears of a missing Egg Harbor Township mother's family were realized Wednesday night as Nadirah Ruffin's body was identified through dental records.
"I wanted to believe it wasn't her," Ruffin's childhood friend Kim Swartz said. "I just creid... this should not happen to anybody ever."
The 19-year-old woman's body was found in the Schuylkill River Tuesday, according to Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel.
Authorities say that a biker riding along West River Drive called police after spotting a body in the water around 10:35 Tuesday morning.
According to sources, Ruffin's body was found handcuffed and duct-taped with a gunshot wound to the head.
The official cause of death was ruled as a gunshot wound, according to prosecutors.
Ruffin was taken from her cousin’s home on the 800 block of N Maryland Avenue in Atlantic City during a violent invasion on March 26.
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Investigators say that three men and a woman wearing masks forced the 19-year-old mother of a 4-year-old out of the house at gunpoint.
No one had seen or heard from her since.
On Thursday investigators asked for the public's help in trying to bring Ruffin's killers to justice. They are asking that anyone who saw something suspicious along the Schuylkill starting March 27.
They are especially focused on the area from the Route 1 bridge down the river two miles to the spot where Ruffin's body was found. A small light-colored car with Jersey plates was possibly involved, prosecutors said.
"Don't come to a conclusion that it won't be helpful," said Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel. "Let us come to that conclusion."
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