Body Found in Storage Facility Believed to Be Missing New York Teacher

Jeanine Cammarata, 37, was last seen on March 30, 2019. (NYPD)

A body believed to be that of a missing New York public school teacher and mother of three has been found in a storage facility, according to reports.

Jeanine Cammarata was missing since March 30 after she went to meet her estranged husband Michael Cammarata to see her children. The 37-year-old also allegedly sent a series of strange text messages on the night of her disappearance, including “I need a break,” causing concern among her friends.

Police sources told the New York Daily News that authorities recovered the body at a Staten Island storage facility on Arden Ave on April 4. The identity of the body has not yet been confirmed.

Police cars and a city medical examiner’s vehicle were reportedly parked outside the facility, several media outlets reported.

“The NYPD early Thursday discovered remains on Staten Island and is working now to make a positive identification,” an NYPD spokesman told the news website. “A connection to the missing teacher has not been verified.”

Just before the 37-year-old went missing, she had served Michael, 42, with divorce papers. They were scheduled to appear in a courtroom in a child custody battle. Friends told ABC7 that the pair have had a tumultuous relationship involving a number of domestic incidents.

Cammarata’s landlord Jose Perez said she was afraid of her estranged husband.

“[S]he was concerned about her safety. And I mentioned it to her, I said to her, ‘You better get this thing straightened out, because you don’t want any problems.’...She always texted me where she’s at or if something’s happening to her. But she has not,” Perez told the news station.

On April 3, Michael was charged with assault, stalking, and harassment after he admitted to police that he punched her in the face, reported the New York Post, citing law enforcement. He has been accused of sending Cammarata threatening texts and following her car with his vehicle’s lights off.

Police obtained a surveillance video that showed Michael leaving his Rockaways apartment with a large bag shortly after Cammarata showed up at the resident. They also determined that Michael had been to the storage facility where the body was found, reported the New York Daily News.

Jessica Pobega, Cammarata’s best friend, told ABC7 that she received the strange text messages from her friend’s phone on March 31.

When Pobega wrote that she was going to call the police, a reply came. “I don’t want that,” it read. “I have the kids…I apologize. I have to do this for the children.”

Police officers said another friend received a similar text message from Cammarata’s phone stating that she just wanted to get away.

“She is a mother of 3 children, she’s a school teacher. She’s never once NOT called into school. She’d never risk her job at the board of Ed in NYC. She’d never NOT check in with me or her sister Christine. She didn’t call her mother for her bday, which was yesterday. There are a lot of people very worried,” Pobega wrote on Facebook on April 2.

Cammarata and Michael have two children together aged 7 and 3. Cammarata also has another child who is 11 with her first husband, reported the Post.

Anyone with information was asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

NTD Reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.