Kearny police reopen 1974 disappearance of local man, seek new leads
Investigators are asking the public for information about Nicholas James Maschuci, who vanished after leaving for a business meeting in Brooklyn more than 50 years ago.
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The Kearny Police Department has reopened the 1974 disappearance of a local man and is asking the public to come forward with any information that could help solve the decades-old case.
Nicholas James Maschuci was 60 when he was last seen in Kearny on Sept. 18, 1974. Police said he left his home for a reported business meeting in Brooklyn, New York, driving a white 1974 Mercury Grand Marquis, and was never heard from again.
“After more than five decades, Nicholas Maschuci’s family still does not have answers, and this Department has not closed the book on his case,” Sgt. John Fabula of the Kearny Police Department Detective Bureau said in a statement.
Fabula said investigators believe people may still remember details that could be significant.
“We’ve been back through this case, and we believe there are people who remember more than they realize,” he said. “A conversation, a name, something that seemed unimportant in 1974 could matter now.”
At the time of his disappearance, Maschuci was described as a white man standing about 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 210 pounds. He had gray, balding hair, blue eyes, wore gold-rimmed bifocal eyeglasses and had an artificial right eye. He was also known by the nickname “Nicky.”
Police are asking anyone with information about Maschuci’s disappearance to contact the Kearny Police Department’s tip line at 201-283-5656 or email tips@kearnynjpd.org. Authorities said tips may be submitted anonymously.
Maschuci’s disappearance remains unsolved and is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as case MP9701.
(Photo Credit: Kearny Police Department)
