Missing From Action

IN THE TONY ENCLAVE OF MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J., reality is a $700,000 house perched on acres of shady lawn, and crime is a plot device in a P.D. James novel. Recently, though, the disappearance of one of Morris Township's most respected citizens has brought in a gust of the world outside. Sidney Reso, the 57-year-old president of Exxon International, vanished, his car left idling at the end of his driveway, as he headed for work on the morning of April 29, and no one has seen him since.

In the midst of an intensive police investigation, Exxon announced last week that it would offer a "substantial reward" for information leading to the executive's safe return. There are no allegations that Reso, a stable family man who has spent holidays working behind soup-kitchen counters, is off on a scam of his own. "There's nothing to indicate a voluntary disappearance," said a spokeswoman in the Morris County prosecutor's office. Law-enforcement officials indirectly acknowledged receipt of a ransom note after the New York Post reported that a letter claiming responsibility for Reso's abduction had been issued by a group called the Rainbow Warriors. The name Rainbow Warrior belongs to a Greenpeace ship destroyed by the French government in 1985. Greenpeace, an international environmental group, vehemently denies any involvement in the Reso incident. Investigators are uncertain that the note is anything other than a prank, and they are remaining tight-lipped on the details of the case.