Friend Asks: ‘What Happened to Tracy?’

SEA ISLE CITY – Polar bears will converge on this city’s beach and then submerge into the icy waters of the Atlantic Feb. 16 as the highlight of a revelry-packed weekend that brings tens of thousands to Sea Isle. Holly Judge, of Telford, Pa. is hoping one of the throngs will bring a tidbit of information that will shed light onto the mysterious death of her best friend, Tracy Hottenstein.
Hottenstein, a pharmaceutical sales representative and former high school cheerleader and homecoming queen, was found dead in the early morning hours of Feb. 15, 2009 on the shore of the city’s marina. Last seen by surveillance camera at 2 a.m. leaving the Ocean Drive nightspot with a man she has spent part of the day with, what happened to Hottenstein from that point on remains a mystery.
“Tracy and I were best friends since we were three,” Judge told the Herald, she and Hottenstein were inseparable as they grew up together.
“She was special,” Judge said of her best friend. “She is missed every single day.”
Judge said she hopes one day questions regarding Hottenstein’s death will be answered.
“We won’t get that closure until there are answers and I believe in my heart someone out there knows what happened to her that night.”
Her best friend said once Hottenstein walked out of the video camera’s view at 2 a.m. her whereabouts were unknown.
According to a medical examiner’s report, Hottenstein died from hypothermia complicated by acute alcohol intoxication. She also suffered several broken ribs which were attributed to a possible fall. Authorities said temperatures the night of her death were below freezing with a wind chill factor making it feel like 21 degrees.
“She was a special person,” Judge said when asked to describe her childhood friend. “She was one of the most caring people I’ve ever known in my life. She thought of everybody before herself.”
Judge said she was with her friend during the daytime hours of Feb. 15. “I was with her until about 5 p.m. on Saturday,” she recalled. “And then I went back to look for her around 8 p.m.”
Judge said Hottenstein left the group of girlfriends she was with at approximately 5 p.m. to meet the man with whom she later was seen leaving the bar after last call.
“They’re seen on video walking out together,” said Judge. “He claims he didn’t know she was walking out of the bar with him.”
Her best friend remains convinced that someone out there knows something. Even in light of Hottenstein’s apparent intoxication, Judge said she was not one to live on the edge.
“I don’t think she was down there by herself,” she said. “Tracy was always the cautious person. She was always the friend who was looking out for everybody. She’s was always the ‘Oh no, you’re going with that person,’ or, “Oh no, you’re not going towards the water.’ She was always the cautious one.”
“She was always so fun,” recalled Judge. “She lit up a room when she walked into it. Everyone loved Tracy.”
“She made everyone feel comfortable. Even people she barely knew. She was the one to make the person in the corner or the person not comfortable in a situation feel welcome and special.”
Hottenstein, along with Judge and another girl were known as the Three Musketeers in their suburban Philadelphia development. The three girls grew up together, went to high school together and remained close friends throughout their college years.
“Wherever there was one, there were the two right behind her. We all went to different colleges and remained best friends to this day.”
Judge, along with a few other friends, will be visiting the city Feb. 15 to hang posters imploring anyone with information into Hottenstein’s last hours to contact police.
The circumstances regarding Hottenstein’s death have all led to a blank. Her friends, however, will not give up their search for answers.
“I feel like we owe that to her,” said Judge. “I think she wants us to know what happened.”