| Welcome to PorchlightUSA. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| 1997 Sapienza,John 2-23-1997; Amsterdam | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 1 2007, 11:24 AM (534 Views) | |
| oldies4mari2004 | Mar 1 2007, 11:24 AM Post #1 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
John Sapienza Above: Sapienza, circa 1997 Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: February 23, 1997 from Amsterdam, New York Classification: Endangered Missing Date of Birth: May 6, 1934 Age: 62 years old Height and Weight: 5'8, 135 pounds Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Gray hair, brown eyes. Details of Disappearance Sapienza's estranged wife stated she last saw him in the vicinity of the 400 block of Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, New York on February 23, 1997. That same day, he spoke on the telephone with a relative and finalized his plans to visit California the next morning. He never arrived in California and he has never been heard from again. Sapienza's 1997 Chevrolet Astro van was located approximately thirty days after his disappearance at a grocery store parking lot in New Hartford, New York. Few details are available in his case, which remains unsolved. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: New York State Police 315-866-7275 Source Information The National Center for Missing Adults New York Missing Persons Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated April 12, 2006; details of disappearance updated. Charley Project Home Attached Image IP: ---------- |
![]() |
|
| oldies4mari2004 | Mar 1 2007, 11:24 AM Post #2 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/in...showtopic=10495 |
![]() |
|
| PorchlightUSA | Jun 26 2009, 09:33 PM Post #3 |
|
Administrator
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Circumstances of Disappearance Sapienza was last seen at his home in St Johnsville, on February 23, 1997. His 1997 Chevrolet Astro van was located approximately 30 days after his disappearance, at a grocery store parking lot in New Hartford, New York. He talked to his daughter on the night of his disappearance, and told her he would leave the next morning for California. When his daughter did not hear from him for a month, she thought he was traveling, fishing, vacationing across the country. Sapienza was in the middle of a divorce at the time of his disappearance. http://www.doenetwork.org/ |
![]() |
|
| PorchlightUSA | Feb 17 2012, 10:44 PM Post #4 |
|
Administrator
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x740672752/15-...o-John-Sapienza HERKIMER COUNTY — According to the federal government, John Sapienza is a dead man. But no body has been found, and 62-year-old Sapienza never was heard from again after he was last seen alive 15 years ago this month. That leaves state police investigators still asking: What happened to Sapienza? “People don’t just disappear from the face of the Earth without some sort of foul play,” said Timothy Blaise, a Herkimer-based state police senior investigator who hopes the public can provide some long-awaited answers. Sapienza’s disappearance never was made public at the time, so perhaps some people didn’t know he was missing, Blaise said. “Or maybe some people thought we didn’t care, which isn’t the case,” Blaise said. “If anybody has any information at all, even if they think it’s silly, we’d like to know about it.” Sapienza’s daughter, Teresa, believes her father was killed. His estranged wife, Charlene, however, always has told police that her husband just disappeared after their relationship deteriorated around Valentine’s Day 1997. The only clue left behind was Sapienza’s red Chevrolet Astrovan, found abandoned in a grocery store parking lot in New Hartford about a month after he was last seen Feb. 24, 1997, Blaise said. Investigators still don’t know if Sapienza is alive or dead. But apparently somebody provided the Social Security Administration with a death certificate stating that Sapienza died on April 15, 1998, officials said. Social Security has no record of who provided the certificate, spokesman John Shallman said. But what state police do know, Blaise said, is that Sapienza’s wife filed with the Montgomery County Clerk’s Office a power of attorney that allegedly was signed by her husband several years earlier. The document gave Charlene Sapienza control of her husband’s financial and real estate affairs, Blaise said. Oddly, Blaise said, it was filed March 20, 1997 – five days before John Sapienza’s van was found in the parking lot and seven days before he was reported missing on March 27, 1997, by his friend, Siegfried Salewski, of Ilion. Charlene Sapienza, who was 32 at the time, never reported her husband’s disappearance, Blaise said. Instead, in October 1997 she began to withdraw what would amount to nearly $480,000 from her husband’s investment accounts, Blaise said. Then in early 1998, Charlene Sapienza moved to California and then to Las Vegas with a new boyfriend, Michael Tessiero, Blaise explained. By July 1998, Charlene Sapienza and Tessiero both filed mutual powers of attorney in Las Vegas, where Tessiero has since become an actor and filmmaker. Charlene Sapienza, a native of Little Falls, could not be reached for comment. Feb. 24, 1997 The last time anyone saw John Sapienza, he went into a branch of Smith Barney in Utica upset that he couldn’t stop payment on a $10,000 check to his wife, Blaise said. The couple was having troubles in their nine-year marriage, John Sapienza said at the time. One day earlier, Charlene Sapienza had called police to report that her husband reportedly was in his van stalking her outside a friend’s home in Amsterdam, Blaise said. The couple had separated and sold their home in St. Johnsville. This all followed an earlier argument on Feb. 21 during which John Sapienza reportedly told his wife that “she may never see him again or maybe she would just get papers in the mail,” according to Charlene Sapienza’s statement. John Sapienza had wanted to travel cross-country in a mobile home, but Charlene Sapienza told him that she didn’t want to go along with such an impulsive and unpredictable plan, Blaise said. So when John Sapienza went missing, his wife figured he took off to the Fiji islands or Tahiti or Australia, Blaise said. But there is “absolutely no trace” of John Sapienza after that, including any financial transactions to suggest he ever withdrew any of his own money, Blaise said. Daughter has doubts John Sapienza’s daughter, Teresa, said her money-focused father was a “loud mouth guy from Brooklyn” who built his house with his own hands, fought for every dime and business he owned and “would go to court to fight over a dollar.” So when someone suggests that her father just left everything behind to never be heard from again, Teresa Sapienza doesn’t believe it. “He was one of those guys that believed whoever goes out with the most toys wins,” said Teresa Sapienza, who lives in California. “With me, he was kind and always loving, but don’t mistake it – he would yell over the littlest things, and I think I was the only one on Earth that would and could stand up to him without fear.” So while Teresa Sapienza has spent years obsessing over her father’s whereabouts, his wife never took an active interest in getting to the bottom of what happened, Blaise said. Charlene Sapienza also refused to take a lie detector test. “It’s unusual for the wife of a husband to not be concerned about where your husband is,” Blaise said. “It just puts suspicion on the fact that he just might be a legitimate missing person, because if he was legitimately missing you wouldn’t have all this suspicious stuff going on.” During a civil proceeding in 2005, Charlene Sapienza “denied killing (her husband) or hiring anyone to kill him, and she denied having anything to do with his disappearance,” Blaise said, referring to her deposition. The last time Herkimer state police questioned Charlene Sapienza and Tessiero was in 2008, Blaise said. In Las Vegas, Charlene Sapienza told investigators that she still was “shocked to this day” that her husband just left her with what he believed was enough money for her to live on, Blaise said. “She still wonders what happened to him or where he might be,” according to the interview report, Blaise said. “Charlene stated this whole incident has been an intolerable ordeal for her and stated point-blank that she had nothing to do with Sapienza’s disappearance.” As of 2008, Charlene Sapienza told police she was still married to her missing husband because she wasn't sure what action she should seek regarding the relationship, Blaise said. She then cut the interview short because she needed to get ready for work, Blaise said. Know anything? Anyone with information on John Sapienza's whereabouts is asked to call New York State Police Senior Investigator Timothy Blaise at 315-866-7275, or email him at timothy.blaise@troopers.ny.gov. |
![]() |
|
| PorchlightUSA | Feb 17 2012, 10:45 PM Post #5 |
|
Administrator
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
www.missing-and-unidentified.org - through a family member Full Name: John Sapienza Missing From: St Johnsville, New York Missing Since: 23rd February 1997 Classification: Endangered Missing Date Of Birth: 6th May 1934 Age then: 62 Height: 5ft 8in Weight: 135lb Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Gray Race: White Tattoo's/Identifying Features: None Clothing: N/A Jewelry: N/A Medical Conditions: N/A Nicknames/Alias: N/A Forensics Availability: N/A Local LE Case Number: 97-111 NCIC Number: M-0011872301 Circumstances: John was last known to have been at his home at 309 Allen Road, St Johnsville, on or about the night of 23rd/early hours of the 24th February, 1997. On or about that date, John phoned his Daughter - Teresa - from that address to her home in California. John told Teresa that they (John and his wife Charlene) were packed and leaving for California in the morning. Teresa spoke to both her father and his estranged wife that night. John and Charlene were seperated and fighting over his assets. They had a pre-nupt and affidavits from his attorney show they were fighting over what he would give her. He wrote her a check for $10,000, the exact amount of the pre-nupt. Teresa was informed that they had reconciled. It was the last time anything was heard from John. The wife collected all his life savings - over half a million dollars by filing a Power of Attorney at the clerks office 2 weeks before he was reported missing and moved to Las Vegas with a friend of John's called Mike Tessiero. Charlene denied the phone call on or about the evening of the 23rd/early hours of the 24th had ever taken place. John's 1997 Chevrolet Astro van was located approximately 30 days after his disappearance, at a grocery store parking lot in New Hartford, New York. Charlene did not report her husband missing and has never aided in the investigation. LE Contact Details: NY State Police - 315-866-7275 Source Information: Family member |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · Missing Persons 1990 to 1999 · Next Topic » |





![]](http://z2.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)



p9047785.jpg (19.44 KB)
2:23 PM Jul 11