VIDEO: Keansburg Residents React to Discovery of Missing Woman's Remains

Days after Kimberly Adler’s remains were , friends and neighbors preferred to remember her during happier times.

“We grew up together,” said Nicole Souza, 28, of Keansburg. “She was a fun girl. We used to do cheerleading together. We'd rollerblade and ride bikes all the time. She came and slept at my house, I slept at her house.”

There was nothing unusual about the Adler household, and the family of five appeared close, Souza said. Dennis L. Adler, Kimberly’s father and the person the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said moved her remains to the crawlspace, was a nice and respectful man who worked constantly, according to Souza.

Dennis L. Adler, 57, had difficulty adjusting following the death of his wife, Mary Ann, Souza said. Monmouth County property records indicate Mary Ann Adler died April 10, 2007.

“The wife was a very sweet,” Souza said. “She always used to feed the neighborhood kids.”

In June 2008, Dennis L. Adler sold the Campview Place property the couple had purchased in November 1989 to John P. Sheehan, according to a deed filed with the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said by August 2008, Kimberly Adler, 23, was dead.

Cleaning Crew Discovers Remains

Joseph Maier said 45 Campview Place property, which is comprised of four separate homes, had a foul odor to it. The 19-year-old Keansburg resident lived at the property in the summer of 2011, renting the home at 45A Campview Place where Kimberly Adler’s remains were discovered.

“In the summer it always stunk really bad in that house. You would tell the landlord but he didn't live around here,” Maier said. "You would get the smell really bad in the bathroom. We thought it was something to do with the plumbing."

On Tuesday, April 3, a cleaning service arrived at the Campview Place property, which county records indicate was under foreclosure. An employee with the cleaning service discovered possible human remains, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. The Keansburg Police Department responded to the scene and contacted the prosecutor’s office.

“You saw police cars flying down there,” Maier said.

The skeletal remains were transported to the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office in North Brunswick, where an autopsy and dental records were used to confirm the body as Kimberly Adler’s, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutor's Office: No Missing Persons Report

Friends and neighbors began wondering what had happened to Kimberly Adler about four years ago, Souza said.

“She went missing. We wondered about it,” Souza said. “A couple people said she moved to Florida.”

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said Kimberly Adler was never reported missing, nor was her death ever reported.

Dennis L. Adler, no longer residing at Campview Place, remained in Keansburg in the years following Kimberly’s death. He had become homeless and would walk throughout the borough for hours, Souza said. The arrest warrant issued for Adler lists his last known address as a boarding house in the borough.

Robbie R., who declined to provide his last name, said he came to know Dennis L. Adler three years ago when he had become homeless for a period of time.

“We both went to the soup kitchen and everybody socializes and talks while they’re there. We would talk and I would see him in town. He was just a homeless guy. He used to walk around town all the time,” Robbie R. said. Dennis L. Adler never mentioned having children, he said.

“He was a nice person. He was harmless. He didn’t bother anybody,” Robert R. said.

Authorities have not indicated a cause of death for Kimberly Adler and an investigation is still ongoing, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Souza said news of the discovery of Kimberly Adler’s remains underneath a house crawlspace rocked the neighborhood.

“I was shocked. I can't believe something like that happened to her--why? She didn’t do anything to deserve that,” Souza said.

Dennis L. Adler has been charged with second-degree disturbing of human remains for allegedly moving her remains on multiple occasions beginning in August 2008. He is being held in on $100,000 bail.

Anyone with information jacklynshould contact Detective Jillian Putkowski of the Keansburg Police Department at 732-787-0600 or Detective Jeffrey Wilbert of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 800-533-7443.