No Leads in N.J. Missing Mom Case
Husband attempted suicide days after allegedly tossing the woman from home.
Aug. 29, 2007 — -- Liza Murphy was last seen Aug. 19, the day her husband, Joseph, allegedly accused her of having an affair, demanded a divorce and told her to leave their Emerson, N.J., home.
Five days later, Joseph Murphy walked into traffic and, after two vehicles swerved out of the way to miss him, was struck by a fire official's cruiser. He survived what police and his lawyer have described as a suicide attempt, but remains hospitalized at the Hackensack University Medical Center.
A search Tuesday involving more than 200 police officers and volunteers that covered 375 acres of thick woodland in northern New Jersey turned up not a trace of the 42-year-old mother of the three.
Ten days into the search, Sgt. George Buono of the Emerson Police Department told ABC News that police have no concrete leads. "I would say that's correct at this time," Buono said.
There is also no one that police are calling a suspect, including Joseph Murphy, who initially was interviewed by authorities. Since the failed suicide attempt, he has retained a criminal defense lawyer and is no longer cooperating with the investigation.
His attorney, Joseph Rem, didn't return a call from ABC News, but told The Record newspaper in northern New Jersey that his client is innocent and only hired a lawyer because he felt as if police were treating him like a suspect in his wife's disappearance.
Rem said that Joseph Murphy wrote suicide notes to his sister, his children and his wife because he believes she is alive.
"He doesn't have to cooperate with us further, but we're hoping he does," Buono said. "We're interested in finding his wife and he should be interested in the same thing."
Before he tried to kill himself, Joseph Murphy, 39, told police that his wife had left the house on foot. Inside, investigators found many of the woman's belongings that suggested she had left abruptly.
"That's one of the issues we're looking at with her," Buono said. "Her purse was at home. Her cell phone was at home. She was a heavy smoker and her cigarettes were left behind."
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