Body of missing South Jersey mom found in burning car

UPDATE: Millville man charged with murder and arson

MONROE (Gloucester) — The body of a 22-year-old woman who had been reported missing this week was found in a burned car on Thursday.

Authorities were alerted to the abandoned and burning vehicle about 3:30 p.m. at 1920 South Black Horse Pike, the address of a tavern in the Williamstown section of the township.

Police recognized the vehicle as one they had been looking for in the search for Sahlena Blackwell-Jacobs, a mother of two children who had last been seen on Tuesday in a black Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Prosecutors did not release other details about the investigation, including how the woman died, saying only that the circumstances of Blackwell-Jacobs' death "are deemed suspicious in nature."

Blackwell-Jacobs was a graduate of Williamstown High School and worked as an administrative assistant at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona. She was a resident of the Sicklerville section of Winslow.

"Sahlena lived life to the fullest and had an uncanny ability to reach people in a deep and positive way," her obituary says.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office asks anyone with information to call 609-221-4849 or 856-728-9800 ext. 516.