On May 4, 1974, 20-year-old Valerie Lorraine Cuccia disappeared after a night out in Brooklyn, New York. She and a friend met at the P.S. 211 Park in their Canarsie neighborhood and hitchhiked to the Banana Fish nightclub, a now-defunct establishment located at 96th Street and 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge. Once inside the club, the two friends became separated. At approximately 9:00 p.m., Cuccia's friend witnessed her getting into a blue, metallic-finished car with two unidentified white men.
The vehicle was noted to have Massachusetts license plates, and the men were described as "hard looking." Some accounts suggest that Valerie may have been forced into the car, though the actions were not alarming enough to prompt intervention from witnesses. She has not been seen or heard from since that evening.
At the time of her disappearance, Valerie was a student at the City College of New York and a talented musician who enjoyed playing the guitar; she left her two guitars at home. She lived with her parents and younger sister in the 1300 block of East 96th Street. Her family described her as a "wonderful girl, full of life" who rarely went on dates and had no serious boyfriends. By the age of 16, she had already sold two of her musical compositions, which were used by a group called January Tyme. Valerie was last seen wearing a plaid coat with a fur collar, a striped polo shirt, camel-colored pants, and black boots with studs. She has a scar on her left calf.
In the years following Valerie's disappearance, her parents received numerous false leads and reported sightings, including tips that sent them to Florida. Her case is reportedly the oldest missing person's case in Brooklyn. Though her parents have since passed away, Valerie's two brothers continue to seek answers. One of her brothers, a former senior investigator with the New York State Police, has solved similar cases but remains without answers in his own sister's disappearance. He believes she was murdered and that someone has information about what happened. The family has submitted DNA to a state database in the hope of one day matching it to unidentified remains. The case remains unsolved.Last Seen: May 4, 1974
