Suffolk officials, families share specialist knowledge, experiences with missing persons event

Twelve years have passed since Ida Mayer last saw her husband Robert.

Her heart is still skipping for a blow when she hears a new report on unidentified remains, she said. Every time it could mean the closure that remains difficult to grasp.

“Everything we have left now is hope,” she said.

Mayer told her story on Saturday at an event for missing and not identified people in the Brentwood Fire Department. The event brought experts from the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office, the Suffolk District Attorney's Office, the Suffolk County Police Department and other agencies helping with the localization of missing persons. A similar event last took place in 2019.

Experts shared insights into the law enforcement efforts to find missing people, different circumstances that lead to disappearance, progress in technology to identify remains and warning stories about human trafficking in the Suffolk district.

They also discussed programs that help to locate missing people, including the national system for missing and non -identified persons, known as Namus, a national database for law enforcement authorities and medical examiners.

The 58 -year -old Mayer from Dix ​​Hills was accompanied by her children Robert (27) and Ariana (23), who last saw their father before his disappearance when they watched “Family Guy” on television.

An electrician, Robert Mayer, returned home from his job in Brooklyn in 2013 and went about 10 minutes later, said Ida Mayer. His car was later found at Deer Park station. She said there are “parts of things that we have put together over the years,” added some information that she does not discuss publicly because it is still an open examination. Court files show that Mayer had to struggle privately with addiction.

On Saturday, a picture of her father, who was 46 for the last time, was exhibited on a large poster board.

“After 12 years I still can't wrap myself around my head,” said Ida Mayer, adding that she no longer believes that her husband could be found alive.

Odette Hall, Chief Medical Examiner from Suffolk County, said that 600,000 people in the United States are reported as missing annually. And while many are later, others like Robert Mayer end, and the “effects on friends and families are devastating,” said Hall.

Suffolk Det. Ken Buckheit discussed many of the steps that the police take to start an investigation into the missing person, and exposed the myth that a case can only begin after 24 hours.

Namus currently lists 96 cases of missing persons in Suffolk County, including Mayer. Some date from the late 1960s. Five are from 2024 and at the age of 16 to 33 at the time of disappearance. Another 50 names are listed in Nassau.

Amy Rapkiewicz, deputy medical examiner, discussed how her office works to identify the remains. There are currently about 210 non -identified human remains in the county, most of which are skeletonized, she said.

“This is an ongoing, intensive project that really includes a deep, committed time of the medical examination office,” she said.

District Prosecutor Ray Terney spoke about a cold case unit that was founded last year to solve murders and review death examinations. He said that progress in technology has created a “completely new landscape” for investigators to review old cases.

He said the goal “primarily” was to “close the families who miss the beloved people”.

When the event was completed, the Mayer family came up with hope as a law enforcement member encouraged them to submit a buccal swab to collect DNA for forensic tests that could one day help identify remains. Ida Mayer said she thought the information was already in file years earlier, but if it could help do it again, they would try.

“We just want to make sure that we treat every option,” she said. “I have to be able to sleep at night.”

Joe Werkmeister came to Newsday in 2022 and covers the government and policy of Suffolk County. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as a publisher of Two North Fork Community Newspapers.