What began as an urgent, multi-day missing persons investigation involving a 17-year-old boy in East Brunswick, New Jersey, ended with the arrest of his mother. Police eventually discovered the teenager safe and uninjured, hiding inside a tight crawl space in the basement of his mother’s suburban home.
According to the New York Post, the East Brunswick Police Department confirmed that Jennifer Buckley was arrested and charged with obstructing the administration of law. The charge follows allegations that she misled police, gave investigators false information about her son’s mental health and helped prevent them from finding him during an extensive search.
The mother claimed the teenager had mental difficulties
The case has also put a spotlight on the lengths some parents can go to during bitter custody disputes. While the community initially feared something terrible had happened to the teenager, police eventually found him hiding inside the home, turning what had looked like a potentially dangerous missing persons case into something very different.
The tense series of events began on a Tuesday evening when the 17-year-old failed to show up for a court-ordered custody transfer to his father’s home.
When the boy failed to appear and his father could not reach him, Matthew Buckley became deeply concerned. He contacted local authorities and filed a missing persons report.
When patrol officers and detectives arrived at Jennifer Buckley’s home to conduct a welfare check, the mother allegedly told them that her son was not there.
According to investigators, Buckley claimed she could not find her son and gave officers the impression that she was just as unaware of his whereabouts as they were. With a teenager missing and no clear indication of where he had gone, police had to consider the possibility that he could be in danger.
She reportedly added another layer to the story by telling investigators that her son was experiencing severe emotional distress. Buckley allegedly said he strongly opposed going to his father’s home and raised concerns that the teenager could be unstable and potentially harm himself.
That information changed the nature of the search. Believing they were looking for an endangered teenager who could be experiencing a mental health crisis, East Brunswick police launched a more extensive operation involving K-9 units and federal databases.
But investigators eventually noticed inconsistencies in Buckley’s account. After obtaining a search warrant for the home, police discovered the 17-year-old hiding inside a basement crawl space.
The teenager was reportedly safe and uninjured, but investigators determined that his mother had helped him remain hidden.
Jennifer Buckley was subsequently arrested and charged with obstructing the administration of law. East Brunswick Police Chief Frank LoSacco condemned the alleged deception, saying it had wasted valuable emergency resources during a search for a teenager who was actually inside the home.
She’s now awaiting formal arraignment
The case also raises questions about the impact of custody disputes when parents disagree over where a child should be or whether they should comply with a court-ordered arrangement. What began with a missed custody exchange quickly turned into a police search involving multiple resources before the teenager was finally located.
For the family, the situation that began with a missed custody exchange ended with the teenager found safe, but with his mother facing a criminal charge over what investigators say happened during the search.
Buckley is now awaiting formal arraignment as the case moves forward.
Published: Sep 23, 2026 08:34 am