50-year-old cold case of missing NYC teen Judith Brown sees renewed interest thanks to podcast

Nearly 50 years since a 19-year-old Queens woman disappeared with an alleged killer once eyed in the “Son of Sam” murders, a cold case may be heating up — thanks to a popular crime podcast.

The mysterious case of Judith Brown was recently resurrected by “The Vanished Podcast,” drawing new attention to the little-known story of the city teen who vanished in 1977 with her murderous fiancé Richard Riesenberg — all while battling mental health issues.

“It’s a strange set of circumstances when somebody disappears with a guy who was in Creedmoor,” said host Marissa Jones, who has featured Brown’s case twice on her show. “It appears that Judith and Richard probably intentionally disappeared together, but perhaps at some point, Judith’s disappearance was no longer intentional.”

One tip was called into Jones’ show about a possible Brown sighting in Olympia, WA — it turned out to be Judith’s sister Laura, The Post confirmed.

In those 47 years, Brown’s family has struggled to find clues, claiming they have received little help from the NYPD or the media — until Jones stepped in.

“The support from the podcasters has been invaluable because there was no investigation before that,” Brown’s cousin, Julian Quiterio told The Post. “No one else has tried to help us.”

A Bronx native and one of eight children, Brown graduated from Evander Childs High School in 1975. That summer, she moved in with extended family in Kew Gardens, Queens after choosing to stay in New York City when her parents and five younger siblings moved to an inherited farm in Kansas.

However, the bookish teen’s behavior raised alarm bells among her family members.

Her cousin, Maureen Drew, feared Brown was suffering from obsessive-compulsive and eating disorders and perhaps mild drug use.

In August 1976, Brown was a student at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. She wrote to her family in Kansas that she was taking classes that might help her better understand her mental health issues.

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One day, a faculty member contacted Drew, informing her that Judith was hiding under a desk and refused to come out.

Drew and Brown drove with the unidentified staff member to Elmhurst General Hospital. Staff there said Brown was in “reality contact”— a determination Maureen said was made because she “knew her name and the date” — and could not be admitted due to a doctor’s strike.

“They advised us to go somewhere else,” Drew recalls.

The next option was Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village, where Judith — despite a warning from Drew — had herself admitted. Drew worked there as a student nurse and witnessed older patients who she says were abandoned there for decades.

And that’s where Brown is believed to have met Riesenberg — a notorious Creedmoor patient 11 years her senior who was given free roam there despite killing his wife and son — during an approximately two-night stay.

“I went home and told my parents that she didn’t belong there,” Drew said. “My parents went and got her out of there as soon as they could.”

Brown and Riesenberg carried on a relationship while he was institutionalized, even visiting Judith’s aunt’s house in Flushing on at least one occasion.

Riesenberg, a “wannabe Casanova,” was a womanizing Kennedy Airport catering employee until January 1971, when he butchered his wife with a knife and strangled their 17-month-old son — with an extension cord he clumsily tried disposing of at work — in their Glen Oaks, Queens, home.

He had initially tried to throw investigators off by scrawling the antisemitic message “death to all (Jew) lovers” with soap on the bathroom mirror — but it wasn’t long before the NYPD closed in on Riesenberg, who had made two suicide attempts in his youth, including one where a note was written in soap on a bathroom mirror. The grisly slayings coincided with the end of an affair Riesenberg was having with someone from work.

In March 1973, Riesenberg was found not guilty due to insanity in a non-jury trial in Queens Supreme Court and was remanded to a mental hospital. Because he wasn’t found liable for the killings, Riesenberg received two-thirds of his late wife’s life insurance, some $11,362 of $17,042, nearly $78,000 today.

In January 2023, Quiterio, Brown’s cousin, contacted Riesenberg’s sister, Linda, who died earlier this year. She claimed that a Creedmoor doctor exploited her parents for cash in exchange for favorable reports on his mental state.

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The arrangement gave Riesenberg “unescorted grounds privileges,” allowing him to come and go from Creedmoor, using the funds from his murdered wife’s life insurance to eat at the Hillside Diner, attend Mets games, and tailor his clothing. In specs and preppy attire, Riesenberg — called “Ricky” by relatives — likely went out on dates while living at Creedmoor.

Riesenberg may also have gained access to secure areas of Creedmoor by illegally purchasing a skeleton key from a staff member.

His sister said he even had a “girlfriend” while he was institutionalized, according to a report at the time.

Among Riesenberg’s multiple alleged Creedmoor gal pals was Gloria Morea, the wife of Hollywood actor Burt Young, who was later nominated for an Oscar for his breakout role in “Rocky” opposite Sylvester Stallone.

Morea was remanded to Creedmoor in July 1972 after she fatally stabbed Young’s son, Richard.

Multiple sources say Riesenberg and Morea were inseparable and may have had a romantic relationship while both were patients at Creedmoor.

Morea allegedly died by suicide in 1974 — two years before Brown’s disappearance.

Riesenberg also spent a lot of time with Allan Lahoff, 75, of Providence, NY, a former attendant at Creedmoor.

Quiterio met Lahoff while both were mining for information about the conjoined cases of Brown and Riesenberg on Websleuths, the internet forum for discussing and sharing true crime information.

Lahoff, a retired judge in upstate New York, said that the NYPD once considered Riesenberg a suspect in the “Son of Sam” murders — but the notion was ultimately dismissed.

However, in early 1977, authorities recommended Riesenberg be transferred to a more secure facility. Instead, Riesenberg fled.

“He wanted out because you don’t want to be imprisoned at a state mental hospital,” Lahoff said. “I’m not surprised that he’s never been caught because he was incredibly bright.”

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Brown, who announced her intentions to marry Riesenberg in a letter addressed to her “Mom, Dad and The Family” in January 1977, was never seen again.

“I remember that she had a good heart; she was tough but shy and probably really thought she was in love with him,” said Anne Brown, Judith’s younger sister. “She thought she found someone to hang onto.”

Brown’s last known contact with her family was in the summer 1977 when she briefly called her eldest sister, Kathy Brown, who declined to be quoted for this story.

“Judith called Kathy and said something along the lines of: ‘I’m OK, don’t worry about me,” Quiterio said of the nearly 50-year-old phone call. “It wasn’t a long phone call, and Judith was quick to hang up. Kathy said she tried to get more information, but Judith just hung up.”

Judith Brown remains missing in the eyes of the NYPD, which has entered her DNA into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), a police spokesman told The Post.

In the event of a DNA match, the NYPD will be notified.

“She is not considered kidnapped, and it is unknown if she is living or deceased,” the spokesperson said. “If the NYPD is provided with any credible leads concerning Judith Brown, the NYPD will investigate.”

Today, new information uncovered by The Post has found that Riesenberg was living in Colorado in the mid-90s, perhaps while raising a family.

Considered a fugitive of justice after fleeing Creedmoor, Riesenberg contacted a lawyer and sought to turn himself in around June 1994. But a source close to Riesenberg said he was discouraged from following through — thinking he’d get little sympathy from the courts in light of OJ Simpson, who was at that time head to trial for the murder of his wife.

The Post has learned that Riesenberg was believed to have been alive around 2000 and in contact with a sympathetic family member who was financially savvy.

It is possible that Riesenberg, who would turn 78 years old this July 9, and Brown, who would be 66, are still alive today. A source said Riesenberg’s sister answered a resounding “yes” when once asked if it were possible her brother and Brown had a child together.

Quiterio, an investigator for The Legal Aid Society, said he will continue to fight for closure in Brown’s case.

“Judith deserves to be searched for,” Quiterio told The Post. “I want to be able to say we tried our best to find out what happened to that girl cowering underneath a desk who mattered to her whole family.”

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