Audrey Nerenberg Missing Person Case

Dec 12, 2008

Jul 09, 2024

Audrey

Nerenberg

67

18

64 inches

115 lbs

White / Caucasian

Female

In the summer of 1977, 18-year-old Audrey Nerenberg lived with her family in their Brooklyn, New York home. On the afternoon of July 15, 1977, she told her mother she was walking two blocks to a nearby store to buy a pack of cigarettes and would be right back. Audrey stepped out of her family's residence on Ryder Street, carrying only a small brown shoulder bag with about two dollars in it, and was never seen or heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, she was described as a young woman with light brown, curly, shoulder-length hair, brown eyes, and a distinctive gap between her upper front teeth. She also had freckles on her nose, cheeks, shoulders, and hands. Audrey’s life included the challenge of a medical condition, having been diagnosed with hebephrenic, or disorganized, schizophrenia at the age of fifteen. This meant she had experienced periods of hospitalization between 1974 and 1977, but at the time she went missing, she was an outpatient at the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center and was taking medication. When she left her home that July day, she did not take her medication or any form of identification with her. Despite her condition, her family noted that while she sometimes became lost close to home, she always had the presence of mind to call her father for help. She enjoyed activities like shopping, listening to music, and dancing. The day before she vanished, she had gone to a movie with her family in Staten Island. The hours and days following Audrey's failure to return were filled with fear and confusion. Her father received a distressing and anonymous phone call from a person who claimed to have abducted Audrey and demanded money, but this individual never made contact again. Investigators were left to explore several painful possibilities. One prominent theory was that Audrey may have experienced a mental health crisis, become disoriented, and was subsequently admitted to a psychiatric hospital as an unidentified "Jane Doe." Despite extensive inquiries at medical facilities, this lead never yielded any results. Other avenues were also explored, including an allegation Audrey had made against the owner of a local ice cream parlor before she disappeared, though no charges were ever filed. Decades have passed since Audrey Nerenberg walked out of her home for a simple errand, and her case remains painfully unsolved. Her Social Security number has shown no activity since her disappearance. Her parents moved to Florida in 1985 but never gave up the search for their daughter. The investigation into her disappearance is still considered active, a lingering testament to a family's hope and a community's unanswered questions. The case is an overview of enduring uncertainty, with theories ranging from the possibility that Audrey is alive somewhere under a different identity, perhaps in a care facility with no memory of her past, to the tragic likelihood that she met with foul play.

Jul 15, 1977

New York

New York

New York County

6115

New York City Police Department - Missing Persons Squad

New York

New York

New York County

10039

2770 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New York

2126947781

Local

Law Enforcement

KNMP13606

New York City Police Department - Missing Persons Squad

4021

Brown

Brown

Brown

08/31/2026