NY NY - Holly Hughes, 7, Staten Island, 15 July 1981

Holly Ann Hughes, 7, Missing since July 15, 1981 from Staten Island, NY

Holly Ann Hughes
Missing since July 15, 1981 from Staten Island, New York.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: January 23, 1974
Age at Time of Disappearance: 7 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'0; 50 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes. Hughes has a fair complexion.
Clothing: Beige bathing suit; blue shorts and beige / brown shoes.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Hughes was last seen in the vicinity of Richmond Terrace and Park Avenue in Staten Island, New York at approximately 21.30 on July 15, 1981. Her mother sent her to purchase soap at a nearby deli at the time. She has never been seen again.

Andre Rand, a convicted New York murderer and child sex offender, was charged in 2001 with kidnapping Holly Ann. Authorities determined that Rand's aunt lived in the same Port Richmond apartment building where Hughes' family resided in 1981. He reportedly visited his aunt at the complex the day of Hughes' disappearance.

Rand is serving a 25-years-to-life sentence in the 1987 kidnapping of Jennifer Schweiger, a 12-year-old with Down's syndrome. He was also convicted in 1970 of raping a 9-year-old.

On October 19, 2004, a Staten Island jury convicted Andre Rand of first-degree kidnapping in connection with the abduction of Hughes.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning Hughes' case, please contact:

New York City Police Department
Missing Persons Squad
1-212-694-7781

Agency Case Number: KNMP00005

NCMEC #: NCMC601770

NCIC Number: M-072555232

Source Information:

New York City Police Department
New York Post On-Line
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Staten Island Advance
Florida Missing Children Information Clearinghouse
NamUsThe Doe Network: Case File 136DFNY


LINK:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/136dfny.html

Etan Patz is Not Alone: 15 Missing Child Cases in NYC Remain Unsolved

Happy ending in Ohio gives loved ones of missing Staten Islanders reason to believe

[snip]

According to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services the number of children (under the age of 18) reported missing in New York City and New York State in 2012 were 8,101 and 21,656 respectively.

[snip]

Holly Ann Hughes, 7, disappeared in 1981 from Port Richmond. Rand was convicted of her abduction in October, 2004. Her remains still have not been found.

More: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/happy_ending_in_ohio_gives_lov.html

There is an interesting documentary called 'Cropsey' that follows the disappearances of Holly, Jennifer Schweiger and other missing children on Staten Island. Andre Rand is the common denominator in these disappearances and the film addresses his part in the cases. This award winning documentary, written by Joshua Zeman and directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, is available on Youtube. I watched it on Hulu Plus.

http://cropseylegend.com/

Holly's brothers, Sean Hughes and Edward Armstrong, both NYPD Detectives, have continued the search for Holly's remains to this day.

http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.ssf/2011/07/plaintive_echoes_of_a_little_g.html

36 years later, the whereabouts of missing Holly Ann Hughes remains a mystery

Seven-year-old Holly Ann Hughes was last seen around 9:30 p.m. July 15, 1981, near Richmond Terrace and Park Avenue, when her mother sent her to the Port Richmond Deli to buy a bar of soap.

Click to expand...

[video=youtube;UR3l0-LztuE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR3l0-LztuE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR3l0-LztuE[/video]

For many years it was said the mother sent her to the deli, and now that same article above titled "36 years later, the whereabouts of missing Holly Ann Hughes remains a mystery" was updated with:

UPDATE: This story has been updated to correct that Holly Ann Hughes was not sent to the deli by her mother.

Click to expand...

Does anyone have more information on that update?

As for the deli she went to, I noticed there is very little information on it seeing as it was the last place she was seen at. Today, the deli no longer stands (it was demolished, I'd have to look it up) and the address would have been 2026 Richmond Terrace. Holly Ann lived between 70-85 Ann St. Randy's aunt lived in the same building, what was his address at the time of her disappearance? I'd look it up but since he went by different names, I doubt I'd find a genuine address.

Bumping for Holly - it's now been 40 years.

Poor little baby, she was too young to be sent to buy alone on the street... here clearly there was an oversight on the part of the mother... really terrible and even if they haven't found her body, at least they know who is to blame... although It could come out in 2037 when I'm 93 years old. I imagine that it can no longer hurt any boy or girl.
rest in peace little one

Missing for 42 years...​

Holly Ann Hughes, age 7, Missing since 15 July 1981​

• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 01/23/1974
• Age 7 years old
• Height and Weight 4'0, 50 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A beige bathing suit, blue shorts and beige and brown sandals.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Holly has red marks on the back of her neck at her hairline. Her hair was shoulder-length at the time of her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance​

Holly was last seen at approximately 9:30 p.m. on July 15, 1981 near Richmond Terrace and Park Avenue in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Her mother sent her to the Port Richmond Deli two blocks away to purchase a bar of Ivory soap, and she was last seen buying it. She never returned home and has never been heard from again.

A month after Holly's disappearance, her mother, Holly Cederholm, received a phone call from a man who identified himself as "Sal." Sal told Cederholm he was holding the child captive, and demanded that Cederholm meet him and perform sex acts on film in exchange for Holly's safe return.

Cederholm went with detectives to meet Sal at Penn Station in New York City, but he never showed up. She stated that she never believed Sal really had Holly; by this time, she thought Holly was dead.

Holly's parents have criticized the police for allegedly botching their investigation into the child's disappearance; they disregarded many witnesses who said they saw Holly because the witnesses had criminal records. Holly's half-brother is now a New York City police detective. Investigators deny any misconduct in Holly's case. Her family described her as a streetwise little girl who could take care of herself.

Suspect

Andre Rand, a mentally incompetent convicted child sex offender from New York, was charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection with Holly's disappearance in 2001. Photos of him are posted at below link.

Rand, whose birth name is Frank Rashan, is also believed to be connected to the disappearances of Alice Pereira in 1972, Ethel Atwell in 1978, Tiahease Jackson in 1983, and Henry Gafforio in 1984, among other missing persons' cases. There is speculation that Rand may have been involved with the 1977 disappearance of Audrey Nerenberg as well.

All of the victims vanished from the Staten Island area, with the exception of Nerenberg. Authorities determined that Rand's aunt lived in the same Port Richmond apartment building where Holly's family resided in 1981.

Rand was previously convicted in connection with the 1987 New York kidnapping of a twelve-year-old girl named Jennifer Schweiger, who had Down Syndrome. She was murdered on the grounds of the now-defunct Staten Island Developmental Center (formerly known as the Willowbrook State School) near his campsite. He was not convicted of her murder; the jury could not reach a verdict on that charge.

Officials searched the yard of Rand's former Vreeland Street residence in Staten Island in January 2002, but evidence related to Holly's case was not located. Authorities questioned Rand and searched his vehicle shortly after Holly disappeared, but he was not charged in her case until 20 years later.

Officers and inmates at the prison where Rand is currently incarcerated testified regarding conversations in which he allegedly bragged about his pedophiliac exploits. He reportedly confessed Holly's murder to an inmate and compared himself to the serial killer Ted Bundy.

Cederholm identified Rand's voice as the same voice she heard during the extortion phone call. Witnesses testified that they saw Rand's green Volkswagen circling the area of the store where Holly disappeared in 1981. Some say they even saw Holly in Rand's car.

He admitted to playing a hide-and-go-seek game with Holly on the day of her disappearance, and to giving her money to buy soap because she was "dirty," but says he left her before she disappeared.

Rand's attorneys maintained that their client is innocent, and that the witnesses who claim to have seen Holly in his car are lying or mistaken. His lawyers attempted to throw suspicion on the child's family. Prior to her disappearance, Holly had been the subject of a custody dispute between her parents and had been taken by both of them at one time or another, but her parents have been ruled out as suspects in her 1981 disappearance.

Rand was convicted of kidnapping Holly in October 2004. Rand was never charged with the child's murder due to a lack of evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He is also serving 25 years to life for the Schweiger kidnapping. The second sentence makes it extremely unlikely that he will ever be freed. Rand maintains his innocence in all crimes suspected of him.

Holly has never been found.

Investigating Agency​

• New York Police Department 646-610-6914

Source Information​

• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• New York City Police Department
• The New York Post
• Staten Island Live
• Operation Lookout
• The New York Daily News
• The New York Times
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• The Tallahassee Democrat
• The Sioux Falls Argus Leader

LINK: