Rita H. Fioretti was 35 when she vanished from the Bronx in late summer 1986. She was due to fly to Chicago on August 9 for a business meeting with the International Paper Company but never made the trip. Living on City Island with her two sons, she was described by acquaintances as a responsible, devoted mother; the last confirmed sighting was in the Bronx and all contact stopped after that.

Her estranged husband, Robert C. Fioretti, an NYPD officer at the time, told authorities she left after an argument. Family and friends disputed that picture. Investigators later learned Robert had secretly divorced Rita years earlier, a fact she only discovered shortly before her disappearance. In the weeks after she vanished he moved his pregnant girlfriend into Rita’s home, married her within a month, and withdrew funds by forging Rita’s signature; he was never charged in the disappearance but was later convicted of bank fraud related to stealing from her accounts.

A headless body found in the Hudson River in 1988 was tested and excluded as Rita. The NYPD Cold Case Squad continues to handle the investigation. If anyone knew Rita, her routines, or saw her around August 1986, please come forward with information.