NY- Queens, MultiFem, 30-50, UP6822, recovered from the Flushing River, 17. Aug 1997

[Aurora90]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Date Body Found: August 17, 1997
Location Found: Queens, New York
Estimated Age Range: 30-50 Years
ME/C Case Number: Q97-03416

Demographics​

Biological Sex: Female
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian, Hispanic / Latino

Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 50
Estimated Age Range (Years): 30-50
Estimated Year of Death: 1997
Height: 5' 1"(61 inches) , Measured
Weight: 118 lbs, Measured
Hair Color: Brown
Head Hair Description: long, curly
Eye Color: Brown

Circumstances of Recovery​

Unknown female recovered from the Flushing River at Roosevelt Avenue and Van Wyck Expressway.
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction

Clothing and Accessories​

Clothing:
light blue short sleeved shirt with multiple black and white decorations, black pants, black underwear, white bra



NYPD artistic rendering of what the unidentified female may have looked like. (Entered into NamUs, April 1st 2024)

 

[madamx]

MISSING
Missing Person / NamUs #MP8820Sandra Cifuentes, Female, Multiple
Date of Last ContactMay 11, 1997
Missing FromMarlboro, New Jersey

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Maybe Sandra Cifuentes her height is on the dot the only thing she seems heavier than the UID but I thought I would post anyway

 

[Aurora90]

MISSING
Missing Person / NamUs #MP8820Sandra Cifuentes, Female, Multiple
Date of Last ContactMay 11, 1997
Missing FromMarlboro, New Jersey

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Maybe Sandra Cifuentes her height is on the dot the only thing she seems heavier than the UID but I thought I would post anyway

I actually think this is a good possibility!

 

[FromGermany1]

MISSING
Missing Person / NamUs #MP8820Sandra Cifuentes, Female, Multiple
Date of Last ContactMay 11, 1997
Missing FromMarlboro, New Jersey

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Maybe Sandra Cifuentes her height is on the dot the only thing she seems heavier than the UID but I thought I would post anyway

^^

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Subject is Hispanic and missing from Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital. Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital has since been closed.

Our UID here:
Other items: One white bed sheet imprinted with “New York Hospital”.

 

[madamx]

^^

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Subject is Hispanic and missing from Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital. Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital has since been closed.

Our UID here:
Other items: One white bed sheet imprinted with “New York Hospital”.

Oh wow I didn’t notice that about the bedsheet.

 

[madamx]

There is a lot of info on the hospital on her thread.
@Atombudd posted that the patients were being transferred. Now with the UID and the bedsheet I wonder if they were transferred out of state to New York Hospital ?

NJ Post in thread 'NJ- Marlboro - Sandra Cifuentes, 24, May 11, 1997'

Jan 7, 2024

Sandra Milena Cifuentes – The Charley Project

• 

Cifuentes, circa 1997

• Missing Since 05/11/1997
• Missing From Marlboro, New Jersey
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Age 24 years old
• Height and Weight 5'1, 170 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A tan and blue jacket and blue jeans.
• 
  
• Medical Conditions Cifuentes suffers from mental illness.
• ...

• Pennysmom2

• 

 

[erlysunsets]

There is a lot of info on the hospital on her thread.
@Atombudd posted that the patients were being transferred. Now with the UID and the bedsheet I wonder if they were transferred out of state to New York Hospital ?

NJ Post in thread 'NJ- Marlboro - Sandra Cifuentes, 24, May 11, 1997'

Jan 7, 2024

Sandra Milena Cifuentes – The Charley Project

• 

Cifuentes, circa 1997

• Missing Since 05/11/1997
• Missing From Marlboro, New Jersey
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Age 24 years old
• Height and Weight 5'1, 170 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A tan and blue jacket and blue jeans.
• 
  
• Medical Conditions Cifuentes suffers from mental illness.
• ...

• Pennysmom2

• 

This might be better information for Sandra's thread than here, but from what I could find by searching newspapers, it seems like they only moved patients to other hospitals within state lines. They also opened up various group homes across the state to house patients being moved.

That being said-- I'm sure there were MANY people who were simply 'released' so they didn't have to bother with transferring them somewhere else. I saw another article from just one year after Malboro closed that Greystone Park, where some of those patients went, ALSO was in the process of closing down.

There's an interesting article from a patient who was transferred from Marlboro to Greystone, then to a group home in 2000 that I've attached here. What sticks out to me is "Martin, a schizophrenic who was confined to Greystone for 14 months, is living on his own without the round-the-clock supervision that comes with being in an institution or a group home. No one is around on a daily basis telling him to take his medicine, when to go to bed, or how to keep his subsidized apartment clean."

So, even if Sandra wasn't released out into the world and was put in a group home, there likely wasn't much difference for her. Very possible she could have just left the home and wandered into the city.