- Joseph Rodriguez
Joseph Rodriguez (
1932 – missing fromSeptember 6 ,1936 ) was a four year old resident of East Harlem (also known asSpanish Harlem or El Barrio),New York , whose disappearance in 1936 remains one of the oldest known unsolvedmissing person s cases inNew York City history.The disappearance
Playing with other children
Joseph, or Joe as he was known, disappeared on
September 6 1936 . Joe was being raised by his aunt, Pauline Rodriguez, and was last seen nearby her residence onPark Avenue . Reportedly, he was playing with other children at the time of his abduction.An anonymous telegram
Within a few days of the abduction, Pauline received an anonymous
telegram which insinuated that Joseph had been injured and possibly hit by a car. The telegram read:epigraph
quote=Pauline, Joseph will be back on Wednesday. Doctor will not let me move him.
cite=A "cold case"
Whether or not the details were based in truth or were intended to be a red herring to throw off the investigation is unknown. This is the only known correspondence from the (presumed) kidnapper to Joseph's family, and Joseph's body was never returned. His whereabouts continue to remain a mystery, as does the identity of the kidnapper, making this incident a
cold case . If Joseph were still alive he would be 76 years old as of 2008.ee also
*
Spanish Harlem
*New York City
*New York City Police Department
*Kidnapping
*Cold case
*List of people who have disappeared External links
* [http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/rodriguez_joseph.html The Charley Project]
* [http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/73dmny.html The Doe Network]
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