MIMI ROHRER MISSING

Author: RON AVERY and SUSAN BENNETT, Daily News Staff Writers

Mimi Rohrer, on trial in Camden for allegedly beating to death her 2-year- old adopted son in 1975, yesterday disappeared with her 12-year-old daughter and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Her husband, William G. Rohrer, a banker and longtime mayor of Haddon Township, N.J., said in a telephone interview yesterday that his wife awakened him about 1 a.m. and said she didn't feel well and was going to get medical help.

Rohrer said he told his wife it was too late to see a doctor and went back to sleep. When he woke again about 8 a.m., Rohrer said, his wife and their adopted daughter, Laura, were missing.

He said he called several hospitals in South Jersey trying to locate the pair. Mrs. Rohrer, who has been free on her own recognizance since her indictment in 1982, has been in court every day during the trial.

The arrest warrant was issued for Mrs. Rohrer after she failed to appear in Superior Court at 9 a.m. yesterday. Her lawyer asked that Mrs. Rohrer undergo psychiatric evaluation when she is found.

Mrs. Rohrer reportedly was seen in Washington, D.C., where she first visited the congressional office of Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and later the Walter Mondale-Ferraro campaign headquarters.

Deputy State Attorney General Anthony Zarrillo, who is prosecuting the case, said Superior Court Judge David Eynon received a late morning call from an aide at Ferraro's congressional office saying Mrs. Rohrer had been there and left some material.

Zarrillo said the Ferraro aide told Enyon the woman appeared shortly before noon and left some papers that she said would help Mondale's campaign and ''harm the Republicans." Before leaving Ferraro's office in the House Office Building, the aide said, Mrs. Rohrer told staff members she was going to Mondale-Ferraro campaign headquarters. The aide said after Mrs. Rohrer left, Ferraro's staff looked at the papers, realized who she was and called to notify the judge.

At Mondale-Ferraro headquarters yesterday, Mrs. Rohrer was met in the lobby where she asked a staff member if they could photocopy some papers she had brought with her, a campaign aide said. He said a member of the campaign staff told her they could not do that and Mrs. Rohrer left without leaving any papers.

Zarrillo said an arrest warrant for Rohrer was Telexed to Washington, but police there apparently missed the woman.

Rohrer, a Republican leader in Camden County, speculated that his wife went to Ferraro's congressional office and the Mondale-Ferraro headquarters to hurt him, "because I'm a Republican." But he would not elaborate on why his wife would want to hurt him politically or otherwise.

Rohrer said his wife had been particularly upset during the past four days - the trial was in recess from Friday until yesterday.

"She wanted to get through the trial and get it over," he said. "All she could do was sit around and think about it, and that's worse than being there. There's no one to discuss it with. And she's been upset by the newspaper coverage."

He said his wife also has been upset with her defense attorney, Raymond M. Brown. On Friday, she asked Judge Eynon to dimiss Brown. Her request was denied.

Mrs. Rohrer has met with the judge behind closed doors several times during the trial to express dissatisfaction with Brown, the son of Raymond A. Brown, one of New Jersey's most experienced trial lawyers.

At times, she met with other lawyers during breaks in the trial, and she recently hired a secretary to take shorthand notes of testimony.

Rohrer said he doesn't know why his wife is so disturbed by Brown's handling of the case. "It's just a feeling that she has."

He said they had expected the senior Brown to handle the defense, but he recently underwent surgery and could not come to court.

Mrs. Rohrer is charged with murder in the death of William Rohrer III, whom the couple adopted along with Laura on a trip to El Salvador in 1975. Both orphans were about 2 1/2 years old at the time of the adoption.

Three months after the Rohrers returned with the children to New Jersey, the boy died of head injuries.

Child abuse was suspected because bruises were found all over the boy's body. However, Camden County investigators accepted Mrs. Rohrer's story that the child threw violent temper fits and the injuries were self-inflicted.

In 1977, the State Commission of Investigations looked into the death and concluded the first investigation had been botched and the case should be reopened. She was subsequently indicted by a state grand jury.

Laura has continued to live with the couple, and yesterday, Rohrer said he was glad his wife took Laura with her, indicating he did not fear for the child's safety.

"If she's with Laura, that's good," he said. "She has a calming influence on Mimi."

Rohrer said his daughter is also upset by the stories of the trial, which have been read and discussed by classmates.

Rohrer said he himself has been barred from attending court during the trial because he might be called as a witness.