NY NY - ALEX MENGEL, 1980's

New Posts

Attachments

  • Patnode, deana.JPG
    Patnode, deana.JPG
    15.4 KB · Views: 6
Newbie here...as I grew up in Queens, NY, this case always haunted me....I know the area quite well actually, but this happened long before then, when I was a kid. I don't know that I buy into the theories being tossed around in the book (I did read much of it a couple years ago)...it makes sense but it's really far fetched. One thing I didn't like was that they assert that Antonella Mattina died of multiple stab wounds to the chest, same as the woman who was kidnapped and scalped. I have never seen any cause of death released for AM..

Anyway, the main reason I posted here...while it's thousands of miles away, I couldn't help but notice the similarity in appearance between Antonella Mattina and Jonelle Matthews, the 12 year old girl who disappeared in Colorado 5 months after Antonella did. She's all over the news now because her remains were just unearthed. It's a long shot I know, but two 12 year old girls with similar appearances and braces disappearing and found buried in rural areas - neither was ever intended to be found. It makes me wonder if maybe - just maybe, there was a connection...

Thoughts?
 
I have looked but haven't been able to find anything. does anyone know when Alex Mengel's brother Gustav came to the US? did they come together at the same time in 1976 or may he have been here first?

I ask because while I doubt it is related, I do think it odd that in 1974, just 2 miles south of where Gustav Mengel lived in 1976, 17 year old Leslie Sue Zaret was seen for the last time on her way home from a friend's house. She stopped into a bar very briefly looking for her bf 2 miles south from Gustav's address. She was found strangled the next day in a park behind an elementary school in Bayside Queens, which was only 4 miles west of Gustav's house.

Leslie's case is always on my mind as I live in the area where she lived and was sadly abducted from. She has a similar appearance to the girls in the pictures. I doubt this is related but I am very curious...
 
NYC Dude said:
Newbie here...as I grew up in Queens, NY, this case always haunted me....I know the area quite well actually, but this happened long before then, when I was a kid. I don't know that I buy into the theories being tossed around in the book (I did read much of it a couple years ago)...it makes sense but it's really far fetched. One thing I didn't like was that they assert that Antonella Mattina died of multiple stab wounds to the chest, same as the woman who was kidnapped and scalped. I have never seen any cause of death released for AM..

Anyway, the main reason I posted here...while it's thousands of miles away, I couldn't help but notice the similarity in appearance between Antonella Mattina and Jonelle Matthews, the 12 year old girl who disappeared in Colorado 5 months after Antonella did. She's all over the news now because her remains were just unearthed. It's a long shot I know, but two 12 year old girls with similar appearances and braces disappearing and found buried in rural areas - neither was ever intended to be found. It makes me wonder if maybe - just maybe, there was a connection...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Welcome NYCDude. I am from NYC too and remember when this all happened all over the papers and the news.
You have a point about Antonella and Jonelle it’s really interesting. They do look similar. Does anyone know if the brother had ties to Colorado in anyway? Or could it have been a copycat? I wonder if there were any others?
 
justagirlfromqueens said:
I have looked but haven't been able to find anything. does anyone know when Alex Mengel's brother Gustav came to the US? did they come together at the same time in 1976 or may he have been here first?

I ask because while I doubt it is related, I do think it odd that in 1974, just 2 miles south of where Gustav Mengel lived in 1976, 17 year old Leslie Sue Zaret was seen for the last time on her way home from a friend's house. She stopped into a bar very briefly looking for her bf 2 miles south from Gustav's address. She was found strangled the next day in a park behind an elementary school in Bayside Queens, which was only 4 miles west of Gustav's house.

Leslie's case is always on my mind as I live in the area where she lived and was sadly abducted from. She has a similar appearance to the girls in the pictures. I doubt this is related but I am very curious...
Click to expand...

Welcome justagirlfromqueens. This is interesting also. I did not realize Leslie was so close to Gustav. I have tried to find info also as I have tried to make a timeline to see if they could be connected to any others. I have not found much on Gustav to make a timeline.
 
madamx said:
Welcome justagirlfromqueens. This is interesting also. I did not realize Leslie was so close to Gustav. I have tried to find info also as I have tried to make a timeline to see if they could be connected to any others. I have not found much on Gustav to make a timeline.
Click to expand...

I have always been into true crime but have recently started researching and putting together timelines for crimes in queens and long island (started out as a fascination with the LISK) and it is truly maddening the amount of unsolved murders, especially a few of young teenagers in the 80s (before my time). I just came across the Mengel brothers names today and when I saw his address from living in the area I knew it wasn't that far from where Leslie went missing.
 
Gustav Mengel - Sex Offender or Predator in Belle Glade, FL 33430 - FL33519
justagirlfromqueens said:
I have always been into true crime but have recently started researching and putting together timelines for crimes in queens and long island (started out as a fascination with the LISK) and it is truly maddening the amount of unsolved murders, especially a few of young teenagers in the 80s (before my time). I just came across the Mengel brothers names today and when I saw his address from living in the area I knew it wasn't that far from where Leslie went missing.
Click to expand...

Its crazy the more you dig the more you find and that is just alone here in NYC!!!!
Yes the Mengel brothers is a hard one.. especially since the brother is still out. I found him in Florida under sexual offenders but I don't know if that address has been updated or not.

Gustav Mengel - Sex Offender or Predator in Belle Glade, FL 33430 - FL33519
 
Another thing with Gustav we don’t know places he worked or if he had a car.
Wish I knew how long he was in Queens prior to Antonella and when he went to Florida..
 
exactly! I wish we knew these things.

earlier in the thread I saw that because of the pictures found in Alex Mengel's wallet that perhaps he was a photographer or worked in a school. In the case of Leslie Sue Zaret the police believed that the killer would had to have prior knowledge of a hole cut out in a fence behind the elementary school where her body was found. I imagine a pedophile like Gustav might know his way around an elementary school not far from his home - had he been living there that is.

and thank you for the link, I was wondering which of the brothers was older and it turns out Gustav is. I wonder if he was here first and then his little brother joined him.
 
justagirlfromqueens said:
exactly! I wish we knew these things.

earlier in the thread I saw that because of the pictures found in Alex Mengel's wallet that perhaps he was a photographer or worked in a school. In the case of Leslie Sue Zaret the police believed that the killer would had to have prior knowledge of a hole cut out in a fence behind the elementary school where her body was found. I imagine a pedophile like Gustav might know his way around an elementary school not far from his home - had he been living there that is.

and thank you for the link, I was wondering which of the brothers was older and it turns out Gustav is. I wonder if he was here first and then his little brother joined him.
Click to expand...

Your right a pedophile would def know his way around a school that is near his home. I had not even thought of that!
Alex Mengal entered the US from Guyana in Nov 1976. But as you said if Gustav was the older Brother he Could have been here already. According to the article below By 1984 Gustav owned the home he lived in Queens, so iam assuming he had been here a while.
Murder of Westchester cop 30 years ago may have been work of serial killer


Alex Mengel | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
 
Iam honestly surprised that the photos of these girls have not been out there more in the public’s eye. As I mentioned in the thread early on. Especially in this day an age with the internet, someone I believe would of recognized at least one of the girls.
 
It's truly upsetting. I had never heard of Christine Diefenbach until a few days ago doing my own snooping. While her murder happened 10 months before my birth the fact it happened in the neighborhood I grew up in, in an area I know well, and how my entire life I have oddly been into true crime it's so strange not hearing anything until now.

I honestly wanted to go back to the area and start talking to people, asking questions but the area is very different than it once was so who even knows if i'd find anything and if I ruffle the wrong feathers the next disappearance everyone on here could be talking about would be mine :x

I never got into websleuthing and researching all this stuff until very recently because I knew it would be upsetting and bewildering.
 
I'm gonna ask my mom if she remembers the Diefenbach murder as she grew up in the Richmond hill area. sadly she was too young and didn't live in this area (flushing) with me until recently so didn't recall anything about Leslie Sue Zaret.
 
Yes Christine that is another one!!i remember coming across her a while ago. Really super sad and I think at this point the neighborhood has totally changed.. and prob anybody who really knew anything is gone and if you do get any info it would prob be second and third hand info.

I have spent time looking to see if by some chance Gustav lived in the Bronx prior to getting the house in queens. Because I believe Alex lived in the Bronx and I know usually when people came from other countries they ended moving to the same building block or neighborhood that a relative of theirs was.

I only mention this because there was another young girl missing from Bronx.. I mean they have a suspect But no real evidence..anyway just throwing it out there.

NY - NY - Cesilia Pena, 14, New York City, 6 October 1976
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 196 more.
Total: 1,600 (members: 197, guests: 1,403)

Online statistics

Members online
197
Guests online
1,403
Total visitors
1,600
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
591,773
Messages
17,958,632
Members
228,604
Latest member
leannamj
Back
Top