In the late winter of 1976, Maria Aravena Reyes, a 49-year-old woman, vanished from her home on Ringwood Avenue in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, leaving behind a life marked by personal turmoil and serious health challenges. A friend grew concerned and reported her missing on March 22, 1976, after Maria failed to show up for a follow-up doctor's appointment. The timing of her disappearance was critical; she was scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Paterson for a divorce proceeding that same weekend. Maria was in an extremely vulnerable state, having just undergone a radical mastectomy for breast cancer on March 16 at Chilton Hospital. The surgery had left her frail and weak, a fact that would later cast significant doubt on the only account of her departure.
Maria and her husband, Hernan Reyes, were in the midst of a contentious divorce. They had married in 1963, and court records show a troubled relationship in the years leading up to her disappearance.
Maria had previously left her husband in December of 1974 to return to her native Chile, only to move back into their Pompton Lakes home in the early months of 1976. Hernan's account of his wife's disappearance was that she had packed two suitcases and left, and he claimed to have seen her walking away with a friend. However, investigators and friends found this story highly improbable, given Maria's severely weakened physical condition. A close friend stated that Maria could barely walk without assistance, let alone carry heavy luggage. Hernan, who reportedly did not want to care for his ailing wife or pay her medical bills, had filed for divorce in January 1976. Their divorce was finalized in 1978, two years after she went missing, and he later remarried.
The investigation into Maria's disappearance has spanned decades, yet she has never been found. Hernan Reyes was considered the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance, but he was never charged and has since passed away. Over the years, law enforcement has pursued various leads. In 1989, authorities excavated the property where the couple once lived, searching for any sign of Maria, but the two-day search yielded nothing of evidentiary value. Decades later, in 2017, detectives interviewed a woman who had been Hernan's girlfriend at the time of the disappearance, but she claimed to have no knowledge of what happened to Maria. Authorities in Chile also confirmed that Maria had not re-entered the country since she vanished. Described by neighbors as a quiet and almost reclusive woman, Maria Reyes's case remains an unsolved mystery that has haunted the Pompton Lakes community and a retired detective who spent years trying to bring her home.Last Seen: Mar 19, 1976
