A Somers Point family is looking for help finding a woman missing since Friday.
Melanie Santo, 33, was last seen at Somers Point News & Tobacco on New Road, where she borrowed a phone to call her father, her mother said.
Santo had been released from One Pines, an AtlantiCare facility in Galloway Township that provides behavioral and mental health services.
When she called, she was not making sense but her father believed she still was in the hospital, her mother, Renee Santo, said.
It was not until later that they learned she had been released without notification.
Renee Santo told BreakingAC that the hospital claimed HIPAA rules were why they did not notify the family, telling police the same thing.
But Renee Santo said that police told the hospital because it was not medical information, they had not right to withhold it.
It was not clear how Melanie Santo may have gotten from Galloway Township to Somers Point.
Her mother said that they know she somehow made it to her home by the Ring camera, but that no one was there at the time.
Melanie Santo seen on Ring camera.That is when Melanie apparently got to the store, where she called her father.
Renee Santo said it has been difficult to get information because her daughter is an adult. Melanie was admitted to the hospital about two weeks ago after a psychotic episode.
Renee Santo said Melanie has always lived with one of her parents.
She said the hospital "assured my (Melanie's father that) they don't release without somewhere to go, and we were so worried this would happen."
Melanie Santo was last seen wearing blue jeans with rips in the knees, white sneakers and a gray-and-pink light jacket.
She has no identification, phone or money, and is off her medication.
Anyone with information is asked to call Somers Point police at 609-927-6161.
