Her disappearance became a cause célèbre in Pittsburgh – one of the most widely-reported, infamous missing person cases in the city’s history and one which, for months, seemed to consume the entire police force.
–Stephen Huba, Pittsburgh tribune-review
It was a warm June day in 1962, and the kids at Immaculate Conception School were let out at lunch for summer break. This was the Bloomfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh, commonly known as the city’s “Little Italy.” Many students walked up and down Liberty Avenue on their way home from school, passing family-owned Italian grocery stores, smoky bars, and boutique shops.
Mary Ann Verdecchia was one of these students. Just ten years old, she was already remarkably independent. Abandoned by her parents at age five, she had been living with her aunt in Bloomfield for the past five years. Not much has been said about Mary Ann’s social life, other than that she was remarkably lonely.
“She was a little kid who would be on her own constantly, going from place to place…She was a very, very lonely child.”
-therese rocco, Former head of Pittsburgh missing persons bureau
She would regularly visit an old neighbor, Jean Emery, who had recently moved to the Martinique Apartments on Baum Boulevard, about a twenty minute walk from Mary Ann’s school. After school let out early on June 7, 1962, Mary Ann walked home to change out of her school uniform. She pulled her dark brown hair into a ponytail and set off down Baum Blvd. to the Martinique Apartments.
She arrived at Jean’s apartment at 12:30pm. Jean asked Mary Ann to help her out a bit with some errands–she was out of cat food, and gave Mary Ann some money to run to the nearby story for some more. She visited the nearby grocery store and picked up the cat food for Jean before returning to Martinique Apartments.
The last confirmed sighting of Mary Ann was by the Martinique’s building manager, William Dozier, who informed Mary Ann that Jean was no longer home. He told police that he watched Mary Ann cross Baum Boulevard around 3:00pm, heading home. This was reportedly the last known sighting of Mary Ann.
After she was missed at her aunt’s house at 6:00pm, her family waited up for her–perhaps she was still in the area, just late coming home. They searched for her, but finding no trace, contacted Pittsburgh police at 10:30pm.
What ensued was, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (July 5, 1962), “the most massive manhunt in Pittsburgh history…[police] rooted through Lorigan Hollow under the Millvale Avenue Bridge and Schenley, Highland, and Frick Parks. No trace of the girl was found.”
Except for one clue:
Therese Rocco, then Head of Pittsburgh’s Missing Persons Bureau, initially suspected that Mary Ann’s parents had come back to the city to take her away. Law enforcement eventually located both parents, Marilyn Riley and Joseph Verdecchia, but both passed lie detector tests and professed no knowledge as to Mary Ann’s whereabouts.
It wasn’t until nearly 30 years later, in 1991, that the case received a substantial update. An unidentified 38-year-old man contacted police about a sexual assault and murder he witnessed as a child in June 1962. He claimed that he watched a Baldwin area Presbyterian Minister murder a young girl. Mary Ann was the only missing person from the Pittsburgh area during this time.
Police excavated the area the witness indicated as the site of the murder, but found only animal bones. The suspect in question had since relocated to Seattle, WA. He maintained his innocence. The lead dried up.
Strangely, another disappearance was reported to have occurred at the Martinique Apartments. In 1959, three years prior to Mary Ann’s disappearance, Marcella Krulce was a 30-year-old secretary and Pittsburgh local. She was last seen dining in the restaurant attached to the apartment complex where she lived on weekdays. After she failed to show up for her job, her absence was reported to police, who searched her apartment. She was an insulin-dependent diabetic, and her insulin, along with the rest of her belongings, were left untouched inside her home. This case also remains unsolved.
“Somebody knows something. Somebody does,” Therese Rocco said in a 2012 interview. On ongoing investigation efforts, she said, “They have an eye on this case. And I am never stopping.”
Mary Ann Verdecchia’s case number with the Pittsburgh Police Bureau is 62-744. They can be reached at 412-323-7800.
Unsolved in Appalachia 