Have you seen me? These people from the Poconos are missing

Brian Myszkowski, Pocono Record
·7 min read
15

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are more than a dozen individuals currently listed as missing throughout the Poconos. Read on to learn more.

K-9 searches, Amber Alerts:How missing persons cases are handled in the Pocono Mountains

Edward Maps, missing since 1962

Edward Maps has been missing since his wife and infant child were killed in a 1962 arson/double-murder in Stroudsburg. Once suspected in the case, Maps made the FBI's Most Wanted list. The bureau dismissed the case against him in 1967.
Edward Maps has been missing since his wife and infant child were killed in a 1962 arson/double-murder in Stroudsburg. Once suspected in the case, Maps made the FBI's Most Wanted list. The bureau dismissed the case against him in 1967.

  • NAME: Edward Maps

  • MISSING AGE: 39

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Stroudsburg

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: June 21, 1962

Notes: Maps was charged in a 1962 double murder/arson that occurred on Sarah Street in Stroudsburg Borough. Considered one of Stroudsburg's most notorious homicides, Maps was the only person investigated as a suspect. An article published in 2008 analyzed evidence in the case, and posited the possibility that Maps could be innocent.

Maps even made the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List at some point, but the "federal process was dismissed against him" in 1967, according to the FBI website.

Anyone with information should contact State Police Troop N Headquarters in Hazleton at 570-459-3890.

Susan Cerritelli, remains not recovered

Susan Cerritelli of Monroe County was last seen in 1983. Police began investigating her case as a murder in 2007, with her estranged husband Andrew Cerritelli as the main suspect. A source told police Andrew disposed of Susan's body in Centralia, a Columbia County mining town that has been plagued by underground fires since 1962. Susan's remains have yet to be found. Her case was closed in 2016.

  • NAME: Susan Cerritelli

  • MISSING AGE: 26

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Long Pond

  • SEX: Female

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: Asian or Pacific Islander

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: May 11, 1983

Notes: Monroe County closed the Cerritelli case in 2016. Detectives began investigating the case as a murder in 2007, around the same time as the death of Cerritelli's husband Andrew Cerritelli, who was considered a suspect.

Andrew told a girlfriend he had dumped Cerritelli's remains down a hole in what was once the town of Centralia in Columbia County. The girlfriend recalled him saying at one point: "They will never find her."

Police are unable to search any holes in Centralia due to a multi-square-mile coal mine fire that has been burning underground there since 1962. The abandoned town has long since been uninhabitable due to noxious surface fumes caused by the underground fire.

Susan Cerritelli:1983 Monroe missing person-murder case is closed

Edmond Sweeney, missing since 1998

Edmond Sweeney was last seen in 1998.
Edmond Sweeney was last seen in 1998.

  • NAME: Edmond Sweeney

  • MISSING AGE: 67

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Saylorsburg

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: February 22, 1998

Notes: According to NamUs, Sweeney was last seen leaving his home to go for a walk on February 22, 1998.

Anyone with information should contact Brian Noll with Pennsylvania State Police Troop N at 570-619-6480. Learn more about this case at namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP7243.

Wayne Arnold, missing since 2007

Wayne Arnold has been missing since 2007.
Wayne Arnold has been missing since 2007.

  • NAME: Wayne Arnold

  • MISSING AGE: 54

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Gilbert

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: February 1, 2007

Notes: According to NamUs, Arnold left Pennsylvania for Texas for employment on December 15, 2006. All contact (phone and computer) from Arnold stopped in February of 2007. Prior to disappearance, Arnold stated he wanted to go to San Miguel Mexico.

Anyone with information should contact Brian Noll with Pennsylvania State Police Troop N at 570-619-6480. Learn more at namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP11608.

Stephen Lepore, missing since 2012

August 17, 2022 will mark the 10-year anniversary of Stephen Lepore's disappearance.
August 17, 2022 will mark the 10-year anniversary of Stephen Lepore's disappearance.

  • NAME: Stephen Lepore

  • MISSING AGE: 55

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Tobyhanna

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: August 17, 2012.

Notes: Prior to his sudden disappearance in 2012, disabled auto mechanic Stephen Lepore of Coolbaugh Township was known as a man who was close to his mother, helped his neighbors and loved fixing cars and building NASCAR models. August 17, 2022 will mark the 10th anniversary of Lepore's disappearance.

Anyone with information that could help should call Pocono Mountain Regional Police at 570-895-2400.

Learn more:Missing man's brother, friend pray for closure

George Savopolis, missing since 2012

George Savopolis has been missing since 2012.
George Savopolis has been missing since 2012.

  • NAME: George Savopolis

  • MISSING AGE: 59

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Blakeslee

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: November 14, 2012

Notes: According to NamUs, Savopolis was last seen on the George Washington Bridge on or about November 14, 2012. He was on the walk way and was allegedly on the way to meet a friend at the McDonald's in Fort Lee, NJ and never arrived.

Anyone with information should contact Detective Daniel Jones with the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department at 570-895-2400. Learn more at namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/19331/details.

Hee Kim, missing since 2013

Hee Kim went missing while out for a walk in the East Stroudsburg area in 2013.
Hee Kim went missing while out for a walk in the East Stroudsburg area in 2013.

  • NAME: Hee Kim

  • MISSING AGE: 61

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: East Stroudsburg

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: Asian

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: February 25, 2013

Notes: Kim left his East Stroudsburg home in the 100 block of Carol Road, went for a walk and has not been seen since. Kim has diabetes, and was known to have a history of wandering off, disoriented.

Anyone with information should call Pennsylvania State Police at 570-839-7701.

Dana Smithers, last seen in May

Dana Smithers has been missing since May, 2022.
Dana Smithers has been missing since May, 2022.

  • NAME: Dana Smithers

  • MISSING AGE: 45

  • COUNTY: Monroe

  • CITY: Stroudsburg

  • SEX: Female

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: May 28, 2022

Notes: "She has a six-year-old daughter," Noel Daniels, a friend of Smithers, recently told reporters. "She has not been seen or heard in months. She left her purse, her wallet, her phone and her keys. There is nothing on her. She has no ID, you know, this isn't somebody everyone thinks ran away. You don't run away without your ID."

She was last seen wearing black jeans and a burgundy shirt.

Those with any information concerning Smithers are encouraged to contact Stroud Area Regional Police at 570-421-6800.

More coverage:Friends and family of missing Stroudsburg woman rally to raise awareness and funding

Katherine VanDine, missing since 1995

Katherine VanDine went missing in 1995, and was declared legally deceased in 2002.
Katherine VanDine went missing in 1995, and was declared legally deceased in 2002.

  • NAME: Katherine VanDine

  • MISSING AGE: 74

  • COUNTY: Wayne

  • CITY: Beach Lake

  • SEX: Female

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: March 18, 1995.

Notes: A judge declared VanDine legally deceased in 2002, according to an Associated Press report.

Richard Redzich, missing since 2005

Richard Redzich has been missing from Wayne County since 2005.
Richard Redzich has been missing from Wayne County since 2005.

  • NAME: Richard Redzich

  • MISSING AGE: 57

  • COUNTY: Wayne

  • CITY: Honesdale

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: July 26, 2005

Notes: Redzich was last seen when he left his home for an appointment, according to NamUs. On November 4, 2005, his vehicle was found stuck in a wooded location. Further searches revealed no other signs of Redzich in the area.

Anyone with information should contact Pennsylvania State Police at 570-253-7126. Learn more at namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/19246/details.

Dominique Chrisholm, missing since 2017

Dominique Chrisholm has been missing since 2017. The teenager disappeared from the Lake Ariel area.
Dominique Chrisholm has been missing since 2017. The teenager disappeared from the Lake Ariel area.

  • NAME: Dominique Chrisholm

  • MISSING AGE: 14

  • COUNTY: Wayne

  • CITY: Lake Ariel

  • SEX: Female

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: Hispanic

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: February 23, 2017

Notes: Anyone with information pertaining to Chrisholm's disappearance should contact the Honesdale Police Department at 570-253-1900. For more information, go to namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP41079.

Edwina Onyango, remains not recovered

Edwina Onyango's husband Ernest Freeby was convicted of her murder. Her remains were never recovered.
Edwina Onyango's husband Ernest Freeby was convicted of her murder. Her remains were never recovered.

  • NAME: Edwina Onyango

  • MISSING AGE: 34

  • COUNTY: Carbon

  • CITY: Lansford

  • SEX: Female

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: Black/African-American

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: December 9, 2007

Notes: Onyango, who immigrated to the U.S. from Kenya, is believed to have been murdered. Her estranged husband, Ernest Freeby, went on trial for her death in 2012, according to WFMZ. Freeby was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Onyango's body has not yet been found. Her remains were not necessary to prove that Freeby killed her, the Carbon County court determined.

"In a homicide case, it is not necessary that the Commonwealth produce the body of the victim to establish death." The court said.

John Malchon, missing since 2017

John Malchon has been missing since 2017.
John Malchon has been missing since 2017.

  • NAME: John Malchon

  • MISSING AGE: 49

  • COUNTY: Carbon

  • CITY: Nesquehoning

  • SEX: Male

  • RACE/ETHNICITY: White

  • DATE OF LAST CONTACT: July 16, 2017

Notes: According to NamUs, Malchon was sitting on his neighbor's porch on the afternoon of July 16, 2017, and was later seen walking towards the railroad tracks and was not seen again.

Anyone with information should call Nesquehoning Police Department at 570-669-9111. To lean more, go to namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP39261.

If a loved one is missing, 'don't wait'Here's how to file a missing persons report in the Poconos and northeast PA

The Pocono Record in Stroudsburg and the Tri-County Independent in Honesdale are offering this story free as a public service. Please consider signing up for a subscription to support our efforts.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Can you help find these people missing from the Poconos?