In the quiet town of Brentwood, New York, 36-year-old Janice J. Donohue was last seen at her home on Wicks Road on the evening of December 16, 1983. What followed her disappearance was not an immediate and frantic search, but a perplexing silence that would stretch for weeks. It wasn't until January 5, 1984, three weeks after she was last seen, that her husband, Richard Donohue, reported her missing.
He told authorities that he had come home late from work, went to bed, and awoke to find his wife gone and their four-year-old son, Chad, crying in his crib, saying, 'Mommy left.' Richard suggested that marital problems may have led Janice to abandon her family. However, this narrative was quickly questioned by those who knew Janice, as she had also failed to contact her children from a previous marriage, which was highly uncharacteristic of her. In fact, her concerned ex-husband had contacted the police to report her missing before Richard did. Adding to the suspicion, Janice had missed a job interview on December 19 that she had been excited about.
The investigation into Janice's disappearance uncovered a troubled and volatile marriage. Friends and family described Richard Donohue as a violent man who had physically abused Janice. This was tragically corroborated by a note Janice had written and left with a friend, expressing fear that Richard had threatened to sabotage her car to cause a fatal accident. In the note, she explicitly stated that if anything were to happen to her, Richard should be considered responsible. Despite being the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance, Richard Donohue was never charged. The case grew colder with each passing year. A grim discovery in 1998 added another layer of tragedy and suspicion when Richard's brother, Edward, took his own life in the backyard of Richard's home. Janice's son, Chad, has expressed his belief that his uncle was burdened by guilty knowledge of his mother's fate and was terrified of his brother. Richard Donohue passed away from cancer in 2000, taking any secrets he may have held about his wife's disappearance to his grave.
Decades have passed, but the search for answers in Janice Donohue's case has not ceased, largely due to the efforts of her children. Her son, Chad, and her biological daughter, Lisa, who was placed for adoption at birth, have continued to seek closure. In December 2019, acting on renewed interest in the case, Suffolk County Police conducted a search of the Donohues' former residence on Wicks Road, utilizing ground-penetrating radar in the hopes of finding Janice's remains. Despite these efforts, the search yielded no new evidence. Investigators have considered the possibility that Richard, who had access to a large incinerator through his job at Kennedy Airport, may have used it to dispose of any evidence. The disappearance of Janice Donohue remains an open and haunting case, a story of a mother who vanished from her home, leaving behind a legacy of unanswered questions and a family still searching for the truth of what happened on that December night in 1983.Last Seen: Dec 16, 1983
