Missing NJ girl reappears at Toms River police station

TOMS RIVER — Missing 17-year-old girl Ashley Combs has been found after five days.

Combs was last seen on Friday afternoon after attending classes at Toms River High School North. Following a weekend of news of her disappearance being shared on social media by her uncle/adoptive father, Rob Nieratko, attorney Jef Henninger took the unusual step of setting a deadline for her safe return by 9 a.m. Tuesday, no questions asked, but she was not returned.

Henninger said she showed up at the Toms River police station on Wednesday evening but many unanswered questions remain. She appeared to be unharmed, according to the attorney.

"We don't really have much in the way of details in terms of how they found her. This sort of came out of left field. We went from having no updates whatsoever, no credible leads, nothing to she's found. We went from 0 to 60 have a lot of unanswered questions in terms of what happened, why it happened, how they found her. Basically every question you could imagine is still out there," Henninger told New Jersey 101.5.

Henninger said he had no reason to believe Combs had any health issues and said police did not advise that she be brought to a hospital.

Nieratko also posted word of her reappearance and thanked the public for their assistance in helping to find his daughter.

"Ashley Combs has been located safe and sound by Toms River Police Detectives. A full press release with details concerning this case will be released tomorrow. No additional details will be released at this time," Toms River police spokeswoman Jillian Mesina said in a statement.

Vin Ebenau contributed to this report

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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