Roberta Michels-Hopkins from Camden, New Jersey, disappeared when she was just 29. Shockingly, it took her family over four decades to file a missing persons report.
In 1981, Roberta reportedly went to the shop to buy a pack of cigarettes but never returned. Bizarrely, her family never reported it to the police. Most of her son’s childhood—he was an infant at the time of her disappearance—was spent in foster care, assuming that his mother had abandoned him.
It was only 41 years later, in 2022, when his daughter, Trinity Jagdeo, discovered that her grandmother had seemingly vanished into thin air—and that no one had even been looking for her. It was at this moment that a missing person’s report was finally filed with the authorities.
Speaking to MailOnline, Trinity shared her thoughts on her grandmother’s disappearance. Claiming that she thinks her gran had been murdered, Trinity said: “I truly think that she was murdered, by who? I haven’t a clue at this point, it could’ve been her ex-husband, someone who didn’t like her, my grandfather, it could’ve been anyone, and because we have little information, we have to assume it’s everyone.”
Having reached out to Roberta’s daughter (her aunt), Trinity is still waiting for a response. She shared: “’My hopes are that my aunt, Roberta’s daughter and my dad’s sister comes around. I feel like she knows so much, but won’t tell. She knows who I am, and she knows all about this, but she still hasn’t spoken about it.”
The search for her missing grandmother began in 2019, when Trinity took a DNA ancestry test and began tracing her family tree. Trinity revealed: “I always knew she existed, for obvious reasons, but I really didn’t know the extent of what happened until I took a DNA test in 2019. Honestly I didn’t know any family members on my dad’s side of the family even existed.”
Upon taking the DNA test, Trinity was linked to a family tree that listed out over 15,000 family members dating all the way back to the 1700s, and that’s when the pieces finally clicked into place for her. However, her curiosity only led her to more mystery.
The results of the DNA tracing eventually led Trinity to her grandmother’s sister, Judy, from whom she hoped to find more information and answers. “I finally met my Aunt J (Roberta’s last living sibling) in 2020 and it was very pleasant, but Aunt J didn’t have any answers, just questions.”
Sharing her story on Wondery’s The Vanished podcast earlier this month, Trinity explained that Judy recalled receiving a phone call back in 1981 from Kumar Jagdeo Sr, the man Roberta was in a relationship with at the time of her disappearance, who questioned Judy on whether she had seen or heard from Roberta shortly after her disappearance.
This led to Judy going to the police to try and file a missing persons report, however she was reportedly turned away by the authorities, who told her that Roberta had the ‘right to disappear’ if she wished to. A month later, after being reportedly dismissed by the police once again, Judy concluded that the authorities were not going to take the case seriously.
As time passed, Roberta’s family started believing that the mother-of-two had relocated to Florida to start a new life as she had some family there, but the puzzling part was that she had left all her belongings behind. Roberta gave birth to a daughter in 1973 after getting married the previous year, however that relationship didn’t last and Trinity’s gran eventually began a relationship with Kumar Jagdeo Sr, with whom she went on to have a son, Trinity’s father, in 1980.
A letter written in February 1981 was the last trace that Trinity found from when Roberta was alive. The context of the letter isn’t too clear, but it was written shortly after Roberta’s father, Robert, remarried. Apparently she had been given the wrong address to her father’s wedding and ended up missing the ceremony. The letter stated that Roberta felt the mix-up was intentional and that she had purposely been excluded from the celebrations.
Judy ended up inheriting the letter after their father passed, which provides a sharp insight into the family relations at the time: The end of Roberta’s letter reportedly stated, “I won’t bother anyone anymore. I’m done trying because I have tried.”
Trinity also managed to uncover the reason her father spent most of his childhood in foster care as she explained that Kumar Sr had raised her dad until he was eventually arrested and deported back to Trinidad.
Born in Trinidad, Kumar Sr had gone over to the United States for work, but was openly known to be involved in drug crime in Camden, which later led to his deportation back to Trinidad. Trinity’s dad lived with her grandfather’s family for a short while, but was eventually placed into foster care by them.
Judy also revealed to Trinity that her grandmother lost custody of her daughter after her divorce from her first husband, although the reasons behind that are unknown. The inquisitive 24-year-old granddaughter also shared that she had tried contacting Roberta’s daughter, however that quest proved unsuccessful.
There are other theories that speculate Roberta died by suicide or may have disappeared onto the streets of Camden due to heavy drug use, however no evidence has been found to corroborate these claims. Another theory that Trinity has taken into consideration is that Kumar Sr and Roberta were in an interracial relationship, which at the time, was frowned upon. This could be the cause behind Roberta’s estrangement from her extended family.
Delving further into her theory, Trinity said: “In 1981 is when she is writing to her dad and very clearly upset and says, ‘I won’t bother anyone anymore.’ Reading the letter of how she was scrambling to find her father’s wedding and she was bringing her partner with her… it kind of answers the question as to why she wasn’t given the correct information.”
“She was probably seen as a disgrace to Robert’s friends who were attending the wedding… they probably didn’t want to claim her and what she was doing. That could of been a huge factor for sure, it gives us insight into what she was dealing with after having a son of colour… it makes me feel for my grandmother and wonder if I would of been accepted.”
Rumours were also rife that Kumar Sr was an alcoholic and that he would often mistreat Roberta, with some conjecturing that she may have been murdered or left on purpose. Due to the fact that no official missing person report was filed for decades, the authorities never ended up taking a statement from Kumar, who eventually passed away in the early 2000s, taking with him his version of the events.
Roberta’s sister, Judy, was grappling with her own personal grief in the time following her sister’s disappearance, including the loss of her 16-year-old son and, shortly after, her husband’s death. Judy was left bereft and unable to focus on her missing sister.
Trinity, who became a single mother, further shared with FEMAIL: “One thing’s for sure, I am finding that Roberta was not a straightforward, simple character. She has many depths to her, almost like an onion, many layers, which makes this story, so interesting.”
Please contact the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit if you have any information regarding the disappearance of Roberta Michels-Hopkins.
