NY NY - Cesilia Pena, 14, New York City, 6 October 1976

ihadcabinfever

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Cesilia Pena was 14 at the time of her disapearance.I looked because she almost looked too young in her picture,Then I realized she was older than she appeared to be.
 
I was on RTE 80 in NJ heading to Pa last sunday and took note how many different State tags there are on the road. Then i looked into the mountains with the leaves down . Its really steep mountains and ravens deep woods nothing you would see that far back in the summer.
Also i remembered how common it is for teenagers to go up in that area in the summertime to rent tubes and rafts in the 70's 80;s and 90's. Lots of campsites and canoes. Its really isolated. So much water.
 
ihadcabinfever said:
I was on RTE 80 in NJ heading to Pa last sunday and took note how many different State tags there are on the road. Then i looked into the mountains with the leaves down . Its really steep mountains and ravens deep woods nothing you would see that far back in the summer.
Also i remembered how common it is for teenagers to go up in that area in the summertime to rent tubes and rafts in the 70's 80;s and 90's. Lots of campsites and canoes. Its really isolated. So much water.
remind's me of where i live.. just about the same type of area......iam not too good on this type of work but i got goose bump's when i read about that newspaper that was used..that's so close its was spooky...i hope someone better than me see's this thread and give's it the investigation its need's.... you doing a fine job...
 
Details of Disappearance
Pena was a student at St. Alphonsus Commercial High School in the New York City borough of lower Manhattan in 1976. Her family resided in the borough of the Bronx. Pena used the subway as her means of transportation to and from school. When returning home on her normal route, Pena took the Number Two Train at the 149th Street station in Manhattan. She would travel five stops down the line to her exit at the Simpson Street station in the Bronx. Pena took the Number 5 bus from that subway stop to her family's home every school day. Pena was last seen by her friends at the 149th Street station between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on October 6, 1976. She never arrived at her residence that day and has not been heard from again. A witness came forward several days after Pena initially vanished and told her family that she had seen Pena on October 6 after the final reported sighting. The witness stated that Pena was on the corner of 163rd Street and Southern Boulevard with a resident of the Bronx named Anthony Flores. Flores, whose nickname is Rudy, was holding Pena by her arm. Pena appeared frightened of him.


wondering if this writing could have been the subway and bus route route she would take home written on her hand?




 
Bump

Cesilia will have been missing 34 years next month. Come home soon sweetie.
 
Cesilia Pena has been missing for 35 years now.
 
Time for Cesilia to come home........praying that someone would do the right thing and tell what they know
 
Cesilia is now 50 years old...


Cesilia Pena
Missing 6 October 1976
From New York, NY

Vital Statistics

Age: 14
DOB: 4 September 1962
Sex: Female
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 4 ft 9 in
Weight: 111 lbs

Source
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Hotline: 1-800-843-5678
 
I just submitted a PM on her...

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/6506/1/

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/10811

There isn't much info on the UID (cranium only), other than female, white, age 15-19, found about 3 weeks after Cesilia disappeared. I found it interesting that she was found in the ocean, about 30 minutes south of Boston, and 5-6 miles offshore. Cesilia went missing from NYC, but her presumed abductor had ties to Boston - he abducted Nelida Del Valle from Boston less than 3 months later, and was known in the community (South End, Boston) well enough that he was identified by name by a witness there.

I'm not too sure about the rate of decomposition, though, maybe someone here can shed some light on it? I would think that even after three weeks, a body would not be fully skeletonized, although I'm not sure what role the water would play in this?

I'm also not well-read on ocean currents - is it possible that it could travel in either direction, meaning she could have been placed in the ocean from either Boston or NYC?

Hoping I didn't jump the gun... the names, ages, and location just really jumped out at me.
 
If this case is indeed connected to the Nelida del Valle case in Boston three months later, could the person have abducted Cesilia because, at just 4'9", she may have looked much younger than 14? In other words, he thought she was around the same age as Nelida? From the pictures I've seen on Cesilia, particularly the colorized one where she's wearing a purple top, she definitely looks like an elementary school child than a high school freshman.

I've heard that many pedophiles and child killers have a specific age bracket of kids they like to target and I wonder if he abducted Cesilia because she looked so much younger.
 
I had a thought about the possible connection between Nelida and Cesilia's disappearances. We know Nelida had a limited command of English (I think I read somewhere that her family were recent immigrants), but do we know if Cesilia was fluent in English? If not and the same person took both girls, could he have been deliberately targeting not just Latina girls, but girls who were vulnerable due to a language barrier?
 
I had a thought about the possible connection between Nelida and Cesilia's disappearances. We know Nelida had a limited command of English (I think I read somewhere that her family were recent immigrants), but do we know if Cesilia was fluent in English? If not and the same person took both girls, could he have been deliberately targeting not just Latina girls, but girls who were vulnerable due to a language barrier?

Good points.

I do think they are connected to the AF person. Too many things fit and witness actually naming the person in 1 of the cases. Wish investigators would go talk with him again and try to get him to tell where they are.

Getting from Boston to NYC is easy by train. Its an easy commute.
 
I came across this and it seems like the same guy in the same area with the same MO just some years later, but he is named as Antonio Rudy Flores I think its the same guy.. the article also has a couple of typos..

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/03/nyregion/murder-and-rape-suspect-seized.html

Published: June 3, 1982

A suspect was seized last night in the murder of one woman and the rape of another in a South Bronx tenement on March 25, the police said.
The suspect, 44-year-old Antonio Rudy Flores,
no permanent address, was arrested by two plainsclothes parole officers about 6 P.M. yesterday evening, according to Paul Young, a spokesman for the State Division of Parole.

Mr. Flores, who was released from prison in early March after completing a 10-year sentence for rape and kidnapping, was sought in connection with the murder of Margarita Valle-Sanchez, 26, of Brooklyn.

In that incident, Mrs. Valle-Sanchez and another young woman, who the police declined to identify, were raped after a man lured them to an abandoned tenement in the South Bronx with promises of a job. The man then stabbed one of the women to death after the other escaped by jumping out of a fifth-floor window. The man escaped from the tenement before the police could capture him.

A Similar Crime
According to Mr. Young, the parole division was brought into the case when police in the Bronx asked the division if any sex offenders had been recently released from prison. After a search of prison records, parole officers determined that the crime for which Mr. Florio was originally convicted corresponded in description to the March 25 incident. In 1969, Mr. Florio lured a 19-year-old woman into a vacant building in the South Bronx with the promise of a job. He was convicted of second-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping in the incident and sentenced to a term of zero to 15 years. He was released from prison in March.

Two officers from the parole division, William Kramer and Craig Brooks, who had been staking out a park at East Tremont and University Avenues, spotted Mr. Flores at about 6 P.M. and arrested him after a short struggle, Mr. Young said. He said that Mr. Flores was carrying a seven-inch stiletto.
Mr. Flores was being held at the 42d Precinct for violation of his parole, said Lieut. Arthur Dallas. Meanwhile, detectives were trying to find witnesses to the March 25 incident for a lineup.
 
https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/cesilia-pena/

Cesilia Pena, 14, disappeared en route from Manhattan, NY to Bronx NY, on October 6, 1976.
Cesilia was last seen by classmates after school, at the 149th Street stop on the #2 train between 3pm and 4pm.* Her normal routine was to travel another five stops to the Simpson Street Station in the Bronx, where she would catch the #5 bus to her home.

Several days later, a woman told authorities that she had seen Cesilia later that afternoon at the corner of 163rd St. and Southern Blvd, accompanied by a man she recognized as Anthony Flores, also known as Rudy.
Flores was spoken to by police, but denied having been with Cesilia on the day in question.** Flores is reportedly service a 50 year – to life sentence, for a subsequent murder in New York.

Just shy of three months after Cesilia vanished, another girl, 9 year old Nelida Del Valle, disappeared from her Boston, Massachusetts home while walking to her school, a block and a half away.* In Nelida’s case as well, Anthony “Rudy” Flores was implicated by at least 2 witnesses.* A sketch was released, after someone claimed to have seen a man walking and holding Nelida’s hand.* A Boston woman contacted authorities after she claimed that Flores gave her a hat and gloves, as a gift for her children.** She told police that she became suspicious, because Flores resembled the police sketch.* The hat and gloves were identified by her family as Nelida’s.

Police again talked to Anthony Flores, who claimed that he found the items and did not know anything about Nelida’s disappearance.** In his possession were a gun, and a fake badge.* It was theorized that he used these items to impersonate a police officer, in order to lure children away.* It was stated that Flores lived in various rooming houses in Hispanic communities.

I have been unable to find the elusive sketch referred to above, after scouring several old newspaper articles.
Searches for Anthony Flores proved baffling as well.** I was curious about the subsequent murder he was convicted on, as I wanted to see if he followed a pattern that might give some indication of what might have happened to Cesilia and Nelida.** Some reports state that this murder was of a young girl, while others state it was of a mother and daughter.** No date of this crime is specified..

All I was able to find, was an article from 1982, where an Antonio Rudy Flores, age 44, lured two ‘young women’ into an abandoned building in South Bronx, with the promise of a job.** One of the women was killed, but the other managed to escape by jumping out of a 5th story window.* He was charged with rape, in addition to the homicide.* I did notice a similarity in that this Antonio Flores is listed as ‘no permanent address’ in the article, which matches the statement regarding Cesilia and Nelida’s presumed abductor, who lived in various rooming houses.

It seems unlikely that this is the same person – the article stated that he had only been released from prison earlier that year, stemming from a 1969
kidnap and rape of a 19 year old woman.* It sounds like this guy was incarcerated when Cesilia and Nelida went missing.

Searches of both New York and Federal prison records have not turned up any likely matches.
Although there was a frenzy of media attention in Boston surrounding Nelida’s disappearance, a search of Cesilia Pena in the New York Times archives yields 0 results.* It was the Bronx – specifically, the South Bronx.* It was the 1970’s, when the Bronx was not a nice place.* Abandoned tenements were being set ablaze, drug and gang warfare were rampant, and missing teens, who were considered runaways by default, were not a priority.

The Bronx has seen, and continues to see revitalization in recent years.** Many of the old abandoned buildings have been renovated, or torn down and rebuilt.** Many more are slated to be revitalized in the future.** There will be surveyors, construction crews, demolition teams, and inspectors combing the interior of the buildings, and they probably are unaware that Cesilia is missing, let alone, that she may be located, in some form, in one of these very buildings.

And where is this Anthony Flores?* 37 years later, he might have something to say.
You’ll see this sort of suggestion from me a lot – I think law enforcement has a tendency to exhaust all their initial leads, then place the case on the back burner until they receive ‘new leads’.** I am a believer that the passage of time can make old leads new again.* People are often afraid to talk to police initially, out of fear that they themselves may meet the same fate – but in 30 years, loyalties fade, and fears subside.** If Anthony Flores had a girlfriend, roommate, brother, or neighbor at the time, I think they should be talked to, if nothing else, just to find out where these two innocent girls are.
 
Cesilia Pena
  • cesilia_pena_1.jpg
  • cesilia_pena_2.jpg
  • cesilia_pena_3.jpg
Cesilia, circa 1976; Age-progression to age 53 (circa 2015)

  • Missing Since 10/06/1976
  • Missing From Manhattan, New York
  • Classification Non-Family Abduction
  • Sex Female
  • Race Hispanic
  • Date of Birth 09/04/1962 (57)
  • Age 14 years old
  • Height and Weight 4'9, 111 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A parochial school uniform consisting of a light gray jacket, a gray plaid skirt and a white blouse.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Cesilia has a scar on her left forearm.
Details of Disappearance

Cesilia was a student at St. Alphonsus Commercial High School in the New York City borough of lower Manhattan in 1976. Her family resided in the borough of the Bronx. Cesilia used the subway as her means of transportation to and from school.

When returning home on her normal route, Cesilia took the Number 2 Train at the 149th Street station in Manhattan. She would travel five stops down the line to her exit at the Simpson Street station in the Bronx. Cesilia took the Number 5 bus from that subway stop to her family's home every school day.

Cesilia was last seen by her friends at the 149th Street station between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on October 6, 1976. She never arrived at her residence that day and has not been heard from again.

A witness came forward several days after Cesilia initially vanished and told her family that she had seen Cesilia on October 6 after the final reported sighting. The witness stated that Cesilia was on the corner of 163rd Street and Southern Boulevard with a resident of the Bronx named Anthony "Rudy" Flores. Flores was holding Cesilia by her arm and she appeared frightened of him.

The location of the sighting is less than half a mile from Intervale Avenue station, one stop before Simpson Station, where Cesilia normally got off the subway. If the sighting is accurate, either that Cesilia got off the subway earlier than she normally did, or that she met Flores after getting off at the Simpson Station as usual and they were together for sixth-tenths of a mile without anyone noticing that anyone was wrong.

Flores claimed that he was not with Cesilia the day she vanished and that he had nothing to do with her case. He is also a suspect in the case of nine-year-old Nelida Del Valle, who disappeared from Boston, Massachusetts in 1976. He has not been charged in either case, however. There are reports that he's serving a fifty-year sentence for one and possibly two murders in New York, but this has not been confirmed.

Cesilia has never been located.

LINK:
Cesilia Pena – The Charley Project
 
Two girls seen in the company of the same man. One on her way to school, one on her way home from school. In one instance, it seems he might have pretended to be a police officer, which lends credence to the idea he may have used the same ruse in New York as a different, unsuspecting young girl was on her way home. But Flores has never been conclusively linked to Cesilia and Nelida’s disappearances. He was, however, apparently incarcerated for the abduction, rape, and murder of a woman and her young daughter.

I say “apparently” because America’s Most Wanted reported this information back in 2002, but a search of New York State’s correctional facilities does not turn up an Anthony Flores (or an A. Flores, Antonio Flores, or any other name variant) whose prison sentence matches this particular crime. Reports about Cesilia Pena and Nelida del Valle that mention Flores’ imprisonment do not identify Flores’ victims by name or provide additional specifics. Is Anthony “Rudy” Flores still in prison, or has he been released? Is he, in fact, serving time in New York’s state system, some other state system, or a federal facility?



———-
She took a look at the man and grew suspicious: he looked an awful lot like the sketch of a man seen near where Nelida disappeared. The hat and gloves proved to be Nelida’s, and the man was Anthony “Rudy” Flores. Boston PD picked him up.
—————-
Has Anyone seen the sketch ? I have looked but never have found it anywhere.





Vanished from the Subway
 
Last edited:
I just submitted a PM on her...

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

There isn't much info on the UID (cranium only), other than female, white, age 15-19, found about 3 weeks after Cesilia disappeared. I found it interesting that she was found in the ocean, about 30 minutes south of Boston, and 5-6 miles offshore. Cesilia went missing from NYC, but her presumed abductor had ties to Boston - he abducted Nelida Del Valle from Boston less than 3 months later, and was known in the community (South End, Boston) well enough that he was identified by name by a witness there.

I'm not too sure about the rate of decomposition, though, maybe someone here can shed some light on it? I would think that even after three weeks, a body would not be fully skeletonized, although I'm not sure what role the water would play in this?

I'm also not well-read on ocean currents - is it possible that it could travel in either direction, meaning she could have been placed in the ocean from either Boston or NYC?

Hoping I didn't jump the gun... the names, ages, and location just really jumped out at me.


Was this Jane doe ever looked or ruled out?..
I am wondering since he traveled from Bronx to Boston maybe he took her and dropped her along the way Somewhere to Boston and sadly she just not has been identified. Does anyone know if he had a car? Or how this guy got around? This is so sad all these years and still nothing!
 

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