Parents Seek Closure in Daughter’s Death

SEA ISLE CITY — While bears and revelers prepare for the city’s annual rite of February, the Polar Bear Plunge, one family will be making the trek not to partake of parties, but to continue their search in finding out what happened to their daughter in the post-plunge early morning hours of Feb. 15, 2009.
“The gist of the Polar Bear Plunge is to beautify Sea Isle City,” said Charlie Hottenstein, of Telford, Pa. “I think it’s a smoke screen. They have the bars open all night. I think it’s pretty clear what Sea Isle City is doing in February.”
Hottenstein, and his wife, Betty, are the parents of Tracy Hottenstein. Tracy Hottenstein, a native of Pennsylvania, was found dead on the shore of the city’s marina Feb. 15, 2009.
Tracy Hottenstein was last seen leaving the Ocean Drive bar at approximately 2 a.m. Feb. 15. Her whereabouts after that time remain unknown.
“They saw her leaving the Ocean Drive with an individual she had spent the evening with,” said her father. “We’d like to learn what happened after that.”
A report by the medical examiner’s office concluded Tracy had died from hypothermia, complicated by acute alcohol intoxication. She had also suffered from several broken ribs, which were attributed to a possible fall. Authorities have stated the temperature the night of her death were below freezing, with a wind chill factor making it feel like 21 degrees.
Charlie and Betty Hottenstein have appeared before City Council several times since their daughter’s death to ask that the city take better control of the event.
“We’ve alerted them to their lack of safety,” Charlie Hottenstein told the Herald in an interview from his home. The distraught father shared how this year he and his wife had inspected the marina area where his daughter died.
“After Tracy died, they reconstructed it,” he said. “They have ramps that lead to the boat slips with gaps of one-and-a-half or two feet on either side.” According to Charlie Hottenstein, he informed the city of the gaps during previous presentations to City Council. The gaps are still there, he said, noting that it presents an even greater danger now, with an amusement park, and the small children that it attracts, in the area.
According to Charlie Hottenstein, the city needs to be more vigilant about enforcement of its local laws and ordinances. As an example, he cited the space where the actual plunge occurs. In 2011 he and his wife made the trek onto the beach to watch people run into the ocean for their frigid dip.
“They have it marked off where the plungers go in,” he said. “There are policemen at the ends of the fence.” He shared how hundreds of people go around the fence and into the water. He noted that if it were summer, and an area was marked off as a safe place to swim, anyone going out of the bounds of that area would be called back in by lifeguards. Yet, for the Polar Bear Plunge, “No one says a word to them,” he said.
What makes this year’s plunge poignant for the parents is the fact that their daughter would be turning 39 years old on Feb. 18, the day of the plunge. Instead of celebrating her birthday with her, they will be in Sea Isle City hoping someone has a tidbit of information that can help them obtain some degree of closure.
“Saturday’s her birthday,” said her father. “The Polar Plunge is on the 18th this year. It’s a very difficult time.”
Both parents will be in Sea Isle City for the event. They hope with the 20,000 to 30,000 people in town for the event, something will jog someone’s memory.
In addition to the Hottenstein’s presence, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office will on site.
“This is still an active case in that we are still looking for information for those few hours that she left the Ocean Drive and when we found her,” said a Capt. Lynn E. Frame of the Prosecutor’s Office. “We are encouraging people if they saw anything that evening, to share it with detectives.”
“So far we’ve come up empty,” said Charlie Hottenstein. “The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office has come up empty, and the Sea Isle City Police Department has come up empty. With 20,000 to 30,000 people there for the Polar Plunge, someone has to know something.”