NY NY - Cynthia Constantine, 15, Oakdale, 11 July 1969

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Innocence Lost
A Detective's Suspicions. A Newspaper Story Two Decades Old. Could They Solve the Disappearance
of Cynthia Constantine?

By Shawn R. Dagle


The summer of 1969. On a rainy July evening in Oakdale, Long Island 15-year old, blue eyed, blonde haired Cynthia Constantine fails to return from a trip to the woods to look for a muskrat she and her brother William discovered earlier that day. A search of the woods near her home provides few clues. Promising leads quickly turn into dead ends. Before long Cynthia’s case goes cold. Just months before the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, a retired Islip police detective in the department’s youth bureau, gives an interview that could break the case wide open.

30 years after Cynthia Dawn Constantine's disappearance there were few clues in her case. The 15-year-old Oakdale teenager had ventured into the woods to find a muskrat hole and simply vanished.
Police searched woods, scoured ponds and tracked sightings with no luck. It appeared as if Cynthia's case would never be solved.
Then a few months before the anniversary of her disappearance retired Islip Police Detective Dick Kleever gave an interview to the Suffolk County News. While the interview wasn't about Cynthia's case Kleever would drop a bombshell. There had been a suspect all along. A suspect very close to home.

Cynthia's case begins in the quiet, rural, Long Island community of Oakdale. Born April 14, 1952 to Robert and Charlotte Constantine, it was here Cynthia grew up as a child in a modest one family home on a busy stretch of roadway with her parents and brother.
By most accounts Cynthia had a sheltered childhood. Her father was the son of a traveling paint salesman and a stay at home mom who grew up in Floral Park New York and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Following the war Robert earned a license as an aircraft mechanic and was a volunteer firefighter until he quit when Oakdale was not allowed to create its own independent fire department.
In 1956 Robert started his own bicycle repair business where he sold imported and domestic bikes, made repairs and welded from his shop located in the same building as their home on Montauk Highway.
Cynthia’s mother Charlotte was the daughter of German immigrants. Her father Albert worked as a lock maker and a baker while her mother Ermgard had immigrated to America three years before Charlotte was born.
While Robert spent his youth and later years on Long Island, Charlotte moved place to place. Born Connecticut she lived in Chicago and the Bronx before marrying and settling down with her new family in Oakdale when Cynthia was one.
By 1969, now in her forties, Charlotte had grown into a “neat” and
beautiful woman – with a “kindly face and a soft voice” according to
contemporary reports.
While its busy location made the family's home on the Montauk Highway difficult for the children to make friends it was perfect for a growing business. Despite the traffic it wasn't entirely bad for the kids. Across from the bike shop there were woods to explore and a field where William would fly kites and ride his motorcycle. William also had a friend named Harold who lived in a nearby apartment. Still it made it difficult to find friends. Both William and Cynthia were extremely introverted. William was so shy when he graduated high school he didn’t attend the ceremony.
Like her brother Cynthia did have friends but few and far
between. A girl from Bohemia, who was friends of the family and who they vacationed with in New Hampshire, moved away.

cynthia-constantine-four_2.jpg


Cynthia Constantine
Somewhat isolated Cynthia still found ways to do the things she loved. She visited the beach with her mother, listened to rock music, went to the movies, swam in Byron Pool and spent her time with her menagerie of pets, which included a pet turtle, pigeons and a frog. Cynthia also kept rabbits, squirrels and enjoyed reading nature books her mother would buy her.
It was that love of nature and of animals that made Cynthia decide to leave her home the evening of her disappearance and venture into the nearby woods.

cynthia-constantine-six.png


Cynthia Constantine Before Her Disappearance
On July 11, as they had many times before, Cynthia and her brother William spent the day exploring the woods near their home. On this trip they discovered a muskrat hole. Later that evening, despite being told in the past by her parents not to go in the woods alone, Cynthia took her dog and headed out the door in a berry stained shirt, black Bermuda shorts and orange shoes to see if she could locate the muskrat.
While William knew where Cynthia was headed her parents did not. They assumed she had gone out back to feed her rabbits, one of which was expecting babies soon. When Cynthia didn’t return by seven and her dog came home with its collar and leash but no Cynthia, William and her parents went to the woods to look for her. Thinking she was injured they scoured the area following a set of tracks left by Cynthia and her dog. The rain, however, soon washed them out. Desperate they returned home and phoned police.
The next morning a search party of firefighters, Boy Scouts and churchgoers poured through the woods in search of Cynthia. There was no trace. After being last seen by three young boys entering the woods near the Oakdale Train Station she had vanished.
When the weather cooperated police canines and a helicopter were brought in to assist. Rescuers dragged Byron Lake and explored a nearby swamp but still no clues.
Almost immediately reports began to come into police. A mother told police about a suspicious man driving a black car who stopped her three-year-old boy in nearby Sayville and asked if he wanted ice cream before taking off. Another witness reported a 14-year-old girl was approached by a white man, in his thirties, clad in a brown suit who asked her to get into his red car before leaving the area. Neither report appears to have led to any significant leads in the case.
There were also false sightings. Months after Cynthia’s disappearance a family friend thought they saw a girl who looked like Cynthia in the Daily News. The lead turned out to be a dead end. Later the Constantines were contacted by a girl who claimed to have seen someone who looked like Cynthia with a boy in Central Park. This tip was discredited when another witness confirmed it wasn’t Cynthia.
Despite the fact she took none of her belongings and her parents were convinced she never would have left her beloved pets behind, police initially classified Cynthia as a runaway. Her mother was convinced she had been kidnapped.
Desperate for answers Cynthia’s family appealed to the FBI. They wrote letters to different hospitals and heard back from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover – who expressed his regret over the disappearance of their daughter. But still no Cynthia.
Before long the case grew cold. With no fresh leads and no arrests the fate of 15-year-old Cynthia Constantine remained unknown. Then nearly 30 years later a curious article appeared in the Suffolk County News. Retired Islip Police Detective Dick Kleever remembered a troubling case. It involved a missing Oakdale girl. Kleever and his partner Bill McDonald couldn’t forget the case. “We have our suspicions and it haunts us,” Kleever told the newspaper.
A Navy veteran during World War II and the son of a former police officer Detective Kleever spent 35 years with the Islip Police Department. At the time of Cynthia’s disappearance he was a detective in the department’s Juvenile Aid Bureau.
Six years after the article appeared Kleever was once again interviewed by the Suffolk County News about his experiences with the police department. This time he went into greater detail about the mysterious case. The father of the missing girl owned a bicycle shop on Montauk Highway. They suspected him of being involved. After approximately a year a new floor had been laid in the basement of his home.
Despite this bombshell no one really appears to have realized the significance of what Kleever had said. Was Cynthia's father really responsible for her disappearance?
There are reasons to doubt his involvement. For one his demeanor after her disappearance. By all accounts he seems to be a grieving father with no idea what happened to his daughter. One teenage girl, that claims to have known Robert while growing up in the Oakdale area, would later post about her visits to his bike shop years after Cynthia’s disappearance and how heartbroken he still seemed.
There were also the countless letters to the FBI and local hospitals and numerous interviews Charlotte gave with the local press – hardly the actions of a family with something to hide or who already knew what happened to their daughter.
Could the investigators have believed they had found their suspect and failed to look elsewhere allowing Cynthia’s case to grow cold?
The answers may never be known. Following Robert’s death – Charlotte sold her husband’s bike shop to the owner of a moving and storage company. She died at the age of 88.
ARCHIVES
 
atombudd said:
Innocence Lost
A Detective's Suspicions. A Newspaper Story Two Decades Old. Could They Solve the Disappearance
of Cynthia Constantine?

By Shawn R. Dagle


The summer of 1969. On a rainy July evening in Oakdale, Long Island 15-year old, blue eyed, blonde haired Cynthia Constantine fails to return from a trip to the woods to look for a muskrat she and her brother William discovered earlier that day. A search of the woods near her home provides few clues. Promising leads quickly turn into dead ends. Before long Cynthia’s case goes cold. Just months before the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, a retired Islip police detective in the department’s youth bureau, gives an interview that could break the case wide open.

30 years after Cynthia Dawn Constantine's disappearance there were few clues in her case. The 15-year-old Oakdale teenager had ventured into the woods to find a muskrat hole and simply vanished.
Police searched woods, scoured ponds and tracked sightings with no luck. It appeared as if Cynthia's case would never be solved.
Then a few months before the anniversary of her disappearance retired Islip Police Detective Dick Kleever gave an interview to the Suffolk County News. While the interview wasn't about Cynthia's case Kleever would drop a bombshell. There had been a suspect all along. A suspect very close to home.

Cynthia's case begins in the quiet, rural, Long Island community of Oakdale. Born April 14, 1952 to Robert and Charlotte Constantine, it was here Cynthia grew up as a child in a modest one family home on a busy stretch of roadway with her parents and brother.
By most accounts Cynthia had a sheltered childhood. Her father was the son of a traveling paint salesman and a stay at home mom who grew up in Floral Park New York and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Following the war Robert earned a license as an aircraft mechanic and was a volunteer firefighter until he quit when Oakdale was not allowed to create its own independent fire department.
In 1956 Robert started his own bicycle repair business where he sold imported and domestic bikes, made repairs and welded from his shop located in the same building as their home on Montauk Highway.
Cynthia’s mother Charlotte was the daughter of German immigrants. Her father Albert worked as a lock maker and a baker while her mother Ermgard had immigrated to America three years before Charlotte was born.
While Robert spent his youth and later years on Long Island, Charlotte moved place to place. Born Connecticut she lived in Chicago and the Bronx before marrying and settling down with her new family in Oakdale when Cynthia was one.
By 1969, now in her forties, Charlotte had grown into a “neat” and
beautiful woman – with a “kindly face and a soft voice” according to
contemporary reports.
While its busy location made the family's home on the Montauk Highway difficult for the children to make friends it was perfect for a growing business. Despite the traffic it wasn't entirely bad for the kids. Across from the bike shop there were woods to explore and a field where William would fly kites and ride his motorcycle. William also had a friend named Harold who lived in a nearby apartment. Still it made it difficult to find friends. Both William and Cynthia were extremely introverted. William was so shy when he graduated high school he didn’t attend the ceremony.
Like her brother Cynthia did have friends but few and far
between. A girl from Bohemia, who was friends of the family and who they vacationed with in New Hampshire, moved away.

cynthia-constantine-four_2.jpg


Cynthia Constantine
Somewhat isolated Cynthia still found ways to do the things she loved. She visited the beach with her mother, listened to rock music, went to the movies, swam in Byron Pool and spent her time with her menagerie of pets, which included a pet turtle, pigeons and a frog. Cynthia also kept rabbits, squirrels and enjoyed reading nature books her mother would buy her.
It was that love of nature and of animals that made Cynthia decide to leave her home the evening of her disappearance and venture into the nearby woods.

cynthia-constantine-six.png


Cynthia Constantine Before Her Disappearance
On July 11, as they had many times before, Cynthia and her brother William spent the day exploring the woods near their home. On this trip they discovered a muskrat hole. Later that evening, despite being told in the past by her parents not to go in the woods alone, Cynthia took her dog and headed out the door in a berry stained shirt, black Bermuda shorts and orange shoes to see if she could locate the muskrat.
While William knew where Cynthia was headed her parents did not. They assumed she had gone out back to feed her rabbits, one of which was expecting babies soon. When Cynthia didn’t return by seven and her dog came home with its collar and leash but no Cynthia, William and her parents went to the woods to look for her. Thinking she was injured they scoured the area following a set of tracks left by Cynthia and her dog. The rain, however, soon washed them out. Desperate they returned home and phoned police.
The next morning a search party of firefighters, Boy Scouts and churchgoers poured through the woods in search of Cynthia. There was no trace. After being last seen by three young boys entering the woods near the Oakdale Train Station she had vanished.
When the weather cooperated police canines and a helicopter were brought in to assist. Rescuers dragged Byron Lake and explored a nearby swamp but still no clues.
Almost immediately reports began to come into police. A mother told police about a suspicious man driving a black car who stopped her three-year-old boy in nearby Sayville and asked if he wanted ice cream before taking off. Another witness reported a 14-year-old girl was approached by a white man, in his thirties, clad in a brown suit who asked her to get into his red car before leaving the area. Neither report appears to have led to any significant leads in the case.
There were also false sightings. Months after Cynthia’s disappearance a family friend thought they saw a girl who looked like Cynthia in the Daily News. The lead turned out to be a dead end. Later the Constantines were contacted by a girl who claimed to have seen someone who looked like Cynthia with a boy in Central Park. This tip was discredited when another witness confirmed it wasn’t Cynthia.
Despite the fact she took none of her belongings and her parents were convinced she never would have left her beloved pets behind, police initially classified Cynthia as a runaway. Her mother was convinced she had been kidnapped.
Desperate for answers Cynthia’s family appealed to the FBI. They wrote letters to different hospitals and heard back from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover – who expressed his regret over the disappearance of their daughter. But still no Cynthia.
Before long the case grew cold. With no fresh leads and no arrests the fate of 15-year-old Cynthia Constantine remained unknown. Then nearly 30 years later a curious article appeared in the Suffolk County News. Retired Islip Police Detective Dick Kleever remembered a troubling case. It involved a missing Oakdale girl. Kleever and his partner Bill McDonald couldn’t forget the case. “We have our suspicions and it haunts us,” Kleever told the newspaper.
A Navy veteran during World War II and the son of a former police officer Detective Kleever spent 35 years with the Islip Police Department. At the time of Cynthia’s disappearance he was a detective in the department’s Juvenile Aid Bureau.
Six years after the article appeared Kleever was once again interviewed by the Suffolk County News about his experiences with the police department. This time he went into greater detail about the mysterious case. The father of the missing girl owned a bicycle shop on Montauk Highway. They suspected him of being involved. After approximately a year a new floor had been laid in the basement of his home.
Despite this bombshell no one really appears to have realized the significance of what Kleever had said. Was Cynthia's father really responsible for her disappearance?
There are reasons to doubt his involvement. For one his demeanor after her disappearance. By all accounts he seems to be a grieving father with no idea what happened to his daughter. One teenage girl, that claims to have known Robert while growing up in the Oakdale area, would later post about her visits to his bike shop years after Cynthia’s disappearance and how heartbroken he still seemed.
There were also the countless letters to the FBI and local hospitals and numerous interviews Charlotte gave with the local press – hardly the actions of a family with something to hide or who already knew what happened to their daughter.
Could the investigators have believed they had found their suspect and failed to look elsewhere allowing Cynthia’s case to grow cold?
The answers may never be known. Following Robert’s death – Charlotte sold her husband’s bike shop to the owner of a moving and storage company. She died at the age of 88.
ARCHIVES
Click to expand...

Was the floor ever checked out?
 
Mysteries1974 said:
WOW! Only seven minutes apart from one another. Definitely should call this in
Click to expand...
I mentioned it to a local reporter in our area. I guess we have to wait and see if more info is released. The area in question is called West Brook Pond. It used to be a fairly decent sized pond, but two years ago a dam broke and it drained and is now being taken back by the land with just a tiny stream running through where the pond was. However, it is right next to a very busy highway and the train tracks - it really could be anyone.
 
Cynthia’s Mother and brother submitted their DNA to the police around 2010.. the skeleton remains can be tested and hopefully there is a match. There is a recent story circulating that a local businessman did it ..the story came out before these skeleton remains were discovered and Ironically one day before Cynthia’s birthday. There are more parts to the story but I will sit back and see what happens if it is a match.
 
chapter2j said:
Cynthia’s Mother and brother submitted their DNA to the police around 2010.. the skeleton remains can be tested and hopefully there is a match. There is a recent story circulating that a local businessman did it ..the story came out before these skeleton remains were discovered and Ironically one day before Cynthia’s birthday. There are more parts to the story but I will sit back and see what happens if it is a match.
Click to expand...
I wonder if anyone has called in a tip regarding these remains.
 
LongIsland8494 said:
I mentioned it to a local reporter in our area. I guess we have to wait and see if more info is released. The area in question is called West Brook Pond. It used to be a fairly decent sized pond, but two years ago a dam broke and it drained and is now being taken back by the land with just a tiny stream running through where the pond was. However, it is right next to a very busy highway and the train tracks - it really could be anyone.
Click to expand...
And
 
That pond is only a short distance from where Cynthia went missing. That pond was also local for us Oakdale kids, meaning that we often walk the tracks to places west..common pre and teen activity in those days..country...could be Cynthia’s remains..
 
madamx said:
Was the floor ever checked out?
Click to expand...
No need to check the Constantine’s floor..Mr Constantine didn’t kill his daughter. However the family suspected one of Mr.Constantine’s business associates due to a bad business deal. That local businessman’s business was very close to where the Constantine’s lived - just north diagonally across Montauk Hwy from them. To my knowledge that person was never investigated. Rumor has it that he was a friend of the police, a military man. I’m guessing a respected, established business.
 
chapter2j said:
No need to check the Constantine’s floor..Mr Constantine didn’t kill his daughter. However the family suspected one of Mr.Constantine’s business associates due to a bad business deal. That local businessman’s business was very close to where the Constantine’s lived - just north diagonally across Montauk Hwy from them. To my knowledge that person was never investigated. Rumor has it that he was a friend of the police, a military man. I’m guessing a respected, established business.
Click to expand...

oh wow that is interesting. Sad that the person was never investigated.
 
chapter2j said:
No need to check the Constantine’s floor..Mr Constantine didn’t kill his daughter. However the family suspected one of Mr.Constantine’s business associates due to a bad business deal. That local businessman’s business was very close to where the Constantine’s lived - just north diagonally across Montauk Hwy from them. To my knowledge that person was never investigated. Rumor has it that he was a friend of the police, a military man. I’m guessing a respected, established business.
Click to expand...
That’s very interesting. I’ve never thought it was Cynthia’s father. From what I heard, he was heartbroken for years after she was taken. He died of a broken, crushed heart in my opinion. I think the body found in the pond could really be her
 
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