MD MD - Bernadette Stevenson Caruso, 23, Baltimore, 27 Sept 1986

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The Doe Network:
Case File 435DFMD

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/435dfmd.html

Bernadette M. Stevenson Caruso
Missing since September 27, 1986 from Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland.
Classification: Endangered Missing



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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: July 2, 1963
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 190 pounds
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Green eyes; light brown hair. Pierced ears, beauty like mole on left cheek. Light complexion.
•Clothing: Black tank dress, with pink tank top underneath the dress, pink belt, clear pantyhose, pink flat shoes, pink cotton jacket, carrying a bag containing a pink and black jacket in it.
•Jewelry: Possibly wearing small earrings, "Mickey Mouse" face watch or gold, small, band watch, and a gold necklace.
•DNA: Available


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Circumstances of Disappearance
Caruso was last seen leaving her job at Shaws Jewelry Store in Eastpoint Mall, Maryland.
Caruso left her job at 17.00. She was driving a 1982 Chevrolet Cavalier; gray/green with Maryland Tag: FYW-097.
Neither Caruso nor her vehicle has been seen since.
Caruso was supposed to call a friend later to go out, but she never showed up or called.
At the time she disappeared, Caruso was separated from her husband. Court records show a lengthy battle over custody arrangements for their daughter, then 3. Their daughter was spending the weekend with her father.
No one has ever been named an official suspect in this case. Foul play is suspected in Caruso's disappearance.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Baltimore County Police Department
410-887-3943

Agency Case Number: E934538

NCIC Number: M-216199238
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Dundalk Eagle
Baltimore Sun
WJZ 13
NCMA

Possible Match Bernadette M. Stevenson Caruso vs.179UFPA - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
UID possible match discussion

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/caruso_bernadette.html
Estranged Husband named here.

http://www.bernadettestevensoncaruso.org/

http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=125.0
Thread that has many archived articles copy and pasted for viewing.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/1816/0/
NamUs Profile:
Dental: NA
DNA: Sample submitted-tests complete
Fingerprints: NA

Snipped from NamUs Profile:
Bernadette Stevenson-Caruso was last seen at approximately 5:05pm at the Eastpoint Mall on North Point Rd. in Baltimore, MD. Bernadette had completed her work shift at The Shaws Jewelry store and was seen entering her car in the mall's parking lot at approximately 5:05 p.m. that day. She had told a co-worker that her estranged husband had called her and she was going to meet him to discuss something. Bernadette has never been heard from again.
Click to expand...

Bernadette has been missing almost 24 years. Come home soon. Prayers for your family and your Daughter.

(age progression to right, unknown age)
 

Attachments

It has been 26 years today. Hopefully the family is able to raise the money for the sonar equipment and possibly bring Bernadette home.


http://dundalkeagle.com/component/c...sure-family-of-missing-woman-continues-search


Hoping for closure, family of missing woman continues search
Wednesday, 05 September 2012 11:50
Caruso vanished from Eastpoint Mall in 1986

by Nicole Rodman


Bernadette Caruso disappeared after leaving her shift at Shaw’s Jewelers in Eastpoint Mall in 1986.

At 23, Bernadette Stevenson Caruso was getting her life back together after separating from her husband when she disappeared on Sept. 27, 1986.
Caruso was last seen leaving her job at Shaw’s Jewelers in Eastpoint Mall at around 5:05 p.m. that day.
Along with her car, a gray/green 1982 Chevrolet Cavalier with Maryland license tags numbered FYW-097, Caruso disappeared and was never seen or heard from again.

According to coworkers, Caruso mentioned that she had received a call from her estranged husband, Paul Michael Caruso. She made plans to go speak with him briefly before later meeting up with a friend.
Caruso would never make it to that friend’s house.
According to Jill Kelley, Caruso’s friend and coworker, the two had made plans to go out, but Caruso never showed up.
It was not until the next day that her family began to realize something was wrong.
When Caruso’s husband showed up at her house to drop off their 3-year-old daughter, Nicole, she did not answer the door.
After calling the police, family and friends began searching for signs of Caruso or her car.
She was never found.
Caruso’s case bears some similarities to the September 1989 murder of Holabird Avenue resident Teresa “Terry” Ann Schmansky.
Also the victim of alleged domestic abuse, she was found murdered in her apartment on Sept. 23, 1989. Her murder remains unsolved.
Since the day of Caruso’s disappearance nearly 26 years ago, her family has not given up the hope of finding out what happened that night.
“We will never give up hope,” Susan Bowerman, Caruso’s sister, told The Eagle last September, noting, “I only pray that our mother gets some kind of closure one day soon.”
In the more than two decades since Caruso’s disappearance, her daughter has had to grow up without a mother, never knowing what happened to her.
Caruso’s sister, Bowerman, has become an advocate for the missing, working with the Maryland Task Force for Missing and Unidentified Adults and Children.
For her entire family, the search for clues in Caruso’s disappearance continues, though leads are few.
For Tracey Reitterer, a volunteer advocate with the Maryland Missing Persons Network, helping the Caruso family find closure has been a labor of love.
For months, Reitterer has been working to raise money for a new type of sonar device that could help searchers find Caruso’s car.
According to Reitterer, a 2008 tip mentioned that Caruso’s car may have been dumped in a body of water in eastern Baltimore County.
Though the site was searched by police divers at the time of Caruso’s disappearance, her car was never recovered.
Based on the new information, and advances in technology, Caruso’s family believes the case bears reexamination.
To that end, they are raising money to purchase a state-of-the-art side-scanning sonar.
With this special type of sonar, acoustic signals create a panoramic picture by bouncing off objects underwater.
This new technology is not only better at finding things underwater, it is safer for the divers as well. It has been used successfully for years.
In 2006, divers in Danville, Ill., were practicing with the sonar when they recovered a car containing the body of 19-year-old missing student Ryan Katcher.
The equipment detected the car after other traditional methods failed to uncover the vehicle.
Though Baltimore County police have indicated that they cannot afford the $26,000 piece of equipment, Reitterer, on behalf of the Caruso family, has spent months trying to raise the necessary funds to purchase the sonar.
Speaking of her dedication to the cause, Reitterer noted, “I cannot comprehend the pain this family has endured for the past two-plus decades, but I believe we are all in this world to make a difference to one another .... I will do everything in my power to help this family find answers and resolution to Bernadette’s case.”
Unfortunately, since Reitterer’s campaign began in June, she has only raised a few hundred dollars toward the $26,000 goal.
To donate, visit www..com/Bring-Bernadette-Home?pc=fb_cr.
Donations may also be sent, via check or mail order, to Tracey Reitterer, c/o Northwest Savings Bank, 1101 Maiden Choice Lane, Balto., MD 21229. “Bernadette Caruso Fundraising Effort” should be mentioned in the memo section.
Tracey Reitterer can be contacted directly at
mdsonarfunds@aol.com.
For those interested in learning more about the case, visit the website maintained by Caruso’s family at www.bernadettestevensoncaruso.org/index.html.
Though another year has passed since Bernadette Caruso vanished from the parking lot at Eastpoint Mall, her family and friends hold out hope that, someday, they will be able to learn the truth and find some measure of closure.
This sentiment is echoed in a poem posted on the Caruso’s family website.
It reads, “To some you may be forgotten/To others, a part of the past/But to those who love you and lost you/Your memory will always last.”
 
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/...amily-of-woman-who-went-missing-27-years-ago/

September 27, 2013 5:37 PM
Gigi Barnett

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Nearly three decades later, the family of a missing Maryland woman is still not giving up. Bernadette Caruso disappeared ago 27 years ago.
Click to expand...

bernadette-caruso.jpg
 
Look, everyone knows precisely who did it. Best thing police can do right now to get justice in this situation is to compel one of the participants in covering up Bernadette's murder to snitch. Maybe one of his buddies from back in the day has charges pending, and wants to save his hide. Get a hidden recording device on an old associate or friend, and get him to coincidentally "bump into" the ex and start talking about old times. Get the ex to reveal incriminating information, recorded on the hidden device, that only the real murderer would know. Could be just a small recorded tidbit that would prove he knew more than he revealed in his original statements to police. That strategy has worked in the past to bring cold cases to trial, even those without a body. Remember, primary suspect (and most believe he had help of others) is still at large and has documented criminal behavior/violence.
 
Bernadette M. Stevenson Caruso
  • bernadette_m._stevenson_caruso_1.jpg
  • bernadette_m._stevenson_caruso_2.jpg
  • bernadette_m._stevenson_caruso_3.jpg
  • bernadette_m._stevenson_caruso_4.jpg

  • bernadette_m._stevenson_caruso_6.jpg
Bernadette, circa 1986; Age-progression to an unknown age

  • Missing Since09/27/1986
  • Missing FromBaltimore County, Maryland
  • ClassificationEndangered Missing
  • Date of Birth07/02/1963 (56)
  • Age23 years old
  • Height and Weight5'4, 190 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA black tank dress over a pink tank top, a pink belt, sheer pantyhose, pink flat shoes, a pink cotton jacket, and possibly small earrings, a gold necklace and a wristwatch which was either gold with a small band, or had a Mickey Mouse face. Carrying a bag containing a pink and black jacket.
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown/blonde hair, green eyes. Bernadette has a mole on her left cheek. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance
Bernadette was last seen leaving Shaw's Jewelry Store in the Eastpoint Mall in northeastern Baltimore County, Maryland on September 27, 1986. Caruso had completed her work shift at the jewelry store and was seen entering her car in the mall's parking lot at approximately 5:05 p.m. that day. She had told a co-worker that her estranged husband, Michael Caruso, had called her and she was going to meet him to discuss something.

Bernadette has never been heard from again. She was supposed to call a friend later that day, but never did. The vehicle she was driving, her grandmother's gray/green 1982 Chevrolet Cavalier with Maryland license tags numbered FYW-097, has never been recovered.

Bernadette was separated from Michael, a Baltimore County police officer, at the time of her disappearance. They were involved in a bitter custody battle over their three-year-old daughter. Their daughter was spending the weekend with relatives on the day Bernadette vanished.

Michael was later fired from the police department after being convicted of abusing a prisoner. Witnesses report that he often threatened his wife. He has not been charged in her case, however, nor has he or anyone else been named as a suspect.

Foul play is suspected in Bernadette's disappearance due to the circumstances involved. Her loved ones describe her disappearance as uncharacteristic of her and they believe she came to harm.

Bernadette resided in the 4000 block of Rustico Road in Carrollwood, Maryland in 1986. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
  • Baltimore County Police Department 410-887-3943
  • Maryland State Police 410-486-3101
Source Information
 
SurrealisticSlumbers said:
Look, everyone knows precisely who did it. Best thing police can do right now to get justice in this situation is to compel one of the participants in covering up Bernadette's murder to snitch. Maybe one of his buddies from back in the day has charges pending, and wants to save his hide. Get a hidden recording device on an old associate or friend, and get him to coincidentally "bump into" the ex and start talking about old times. Get the ex to reveal incriminating information, recorded on the hidden device, that only the real murderer would know. Could be just a small recorded tidbit that would prove he knew more than he revealed in his original statements to police. That strategy has worked in the past to bring cold cases to trial, even those without a body. Remember, primary suspect (and most believe he had help of others) is still at large and has documented criminal behavior/violence.
Click to expand...

Do you have the suspect name we can track? There could be a link between Bernadette's case, and the case of Brenda Bloom, 29.

Brenda was found 11 miles away from where Bernadette was last seen. Brenda's body was found the day (9/26) before Bernadette went missing (9/27).

Akron Death Linked With Other Killings

AP news ran this article in '91, speculating a link between Brenda's death, and a number of other unsolved cases across the eastern half of North America.

If you have a suspect name in Bernadette's case please share.
 
NOVAhistoryDetective said:
Do you have the suspect name we can track? There could be a link between Bernadette's case, and the case of Brenda Bloom, 29.

Brenda was found 11 miles away from where Bernadette was last seen. Brenda's body was found the day (9/26) before Bernadette went missing (9/27).

Akron Death Linked With Other Killings

AP news ran this article in '91, speculating a link between Brenda's death, and a number of other unsolved cases across the eastern half of North America.

If you have a suspect name in Bernadette's case please share.
Click to expand...

Her ex-husband.

Sadly, her daughter Nicole passed away this week.
 
'We will never give up seeking justice'

60479b09ec5ab.image.png


Nicole Caruso, the daughter of a woman who went missing in Dundalk nearly 35 years ago, suddenly passed away late last month.

Caruso, 37, lived in Parkville at the time of her death. According to people close to her, she was a loving daughter, niece and friend, who would help anyone at anytime, no matter what she was doing.
---
For those related to Caruso and her mother, Bernadette Stevenson Caruso, the latter Caruso’s sudden death is another unexplained tragedy. Bernadette Caruso was last seen on Sept. 27, 1986, leaving the Eastpoint Mall. Nicole was three years old at the time her mother disappeared. She spent a large portion of her life searching for answers about her mother’s disappearance, according to people close to her.

“It didn’t matter if you knew Nicole for 10 years or 10 minutes, you knew about her mom,” the friend said.

Nicole was born on June 20, 1983, to Bernadette Stevenson Caruso and Paul Michael Caruso. Her father was once a Baltimore County police officer. Her mother worked at Shaw’s Jewelry, inside the Eastpoint Mall. Bernadette’s disappearance remains a cold case. To this point, any evidence that would indicate how she disappeared has not been uncovered.

According to those close to Nicole, her mother’s disappearance was something that haunted her all her adult life. She often posted about her mother’s disappearance on social media, sharing her pain and asking if anyone could help find her. The family has made many attempts to find the person or persons responsible for Bernadette’s disappearance, even making a request to the Baltimore County States Attorney’s Office to put circumstantial evidence in front of a grand jury. That request was denied.
---
The friend who spoke anonymously said Nicole was on a “downward spiral” for more than a year before her death. Though the spiral could be attributed to multiple factors, such as losing her job, the mystery about her mother contributed the most to her depressed state, the friend said. Nicole spoke to a local media outlet in 2007, saying it was difficult to grow up without a mother. She echoed her family members, saying the family seeks closure and to lay the story to rest.
---
Susan Bowerman, who was an aunt to Nicole and a sister to Bernadette. “I am her godmother. We were close.

Bowerman’s husband, Sam Bowerman, told the Eagle that the family will not rest until an answer as to what happened to Bernadette is found. In addition, they are seeking answers as to how Nicole perished. They were not informed of their niece’s death, learning about it later in the evening on Feb. 27 by going on Facebook.

Sam Bowerman is a retired law enforcement officer and expert criminal profiler. His experience includes a period as a detective with the Baltimore County Police Department. He was assigned to profile Bernadette Caruso’s case. He later married Susan Bowerman, in 1995.

It was cruel for the family to not be notified about Nicole’s death, Sam Bowerman said, despite the fact that they have suffered for the last 35 years without finding any closure.

“To have to find that out through Facebook is just inexcusable,” he said. “I say that as Nicole’s uncle, officially since 1995, having been close with her at various times of her life; and as one of the investigators in her mother’s disappearance.
---
Sam Bowerman has maintained over many years that Bernadette Caruso’s disappearance was a “well-planned conspiracy.” Her body and car never being found is proof of that, he told local media outlets in the past. According to local media reports, Bernadette Caruso and Paul Michael Caruso were involved in a custody battle over Nicole at the time of her disappearance. Bernadette Caruso had filed a domestic violence charge against her estranged husband. The hearing was scheduled to take place in the near future, according to local media reports.

'We will never give up seeking justice'
Family mourns Nicole Caruso, daughter of long-missing Dundalk woman
 
My heart goes out to the Stevenson family. By all appearances, they're still actively trying to get Bernadette's case revisited and launch a trial. There's been too much pain for this family, especially now with Bernadette's daughter passing. You can see they're still hurting immensely. They need justice.
 
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