By Madina Toure
Despite using a variety of investigative tools to find a Whitestone woman who disappeared two months ago, the lead investigator in the case said it still has not located her. The NYPD and her family have also come up empty-handed in the search.
Maria Brabazon, 55, was last seen Sept. 5 at 2:54 p.m. when she was observed by a neighbor’s home surveillance camera walking on 14th Avenue toward the intersection with 152nd Street in Whitestone.
The 109th Precinct Detective Squad and the NYPD’s Missing Persons Unit launched an investigation for Brabazon in collaboration with Beau Dietl & Associates, a private investigators firm in Manhattan.
Mark Pucci, executive vice president of Beau Dietl, said it was using three separate dog teams, a combination of cadaver dogs and regular search dogs as part of the search.
Investigators were alerted to a woman suspected of being Maria at a store in the Amityville-Massapequa area, where Maria often frequented thrift stores and antique shops. The woman’s accent and appearance were similar to Maria’s.
But she turned out to be a Polish woman (Maria has a Bavarian accent). Peter Brabazon met the woman and confirmed she was not Maria.
The firm also put out National Crime Information Center alerts and enlisted the help of police in Nassau County and the Massapequa-Amityville area, also posting missing person fliers in those areas.
Peter Brabazon said that Nov. 5 marks two months since Maria went missing. “We have the video of her turning the corner and we have nothing further,” he said.
The morning that Brabazon disappeared, Beau Dietl discovered that she had received a parking summons on 202nd Street in the area of 19th and 21st avenues for an expired inspection.
She then visited a gas station on Utopia Parkway to have her vehicle inspected, went to a BJ’s Warehouse in Whitestone and checked out at around 11:17 a.m., based on surveillance footage.
Since then Beau Dietl has conducted an extensive search of the public and park areas in the vicinity of the Throgs Neck Bridge, including Little Bay Park, Clear Bay Park Golf Course and open areas next to Fort Totten.
Brabazon has been described by police as 5-foot-5-inches, weighing 125 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black leggings and a white shirt.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) held a news conference last month about Brabazon. He plans to follow up on the case.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
