Irene LaRosa was 17 when she was last seen walking away from her home in Ellington, Connecticut, sometime in March 1971. The exact date of her disappearance is not known. She had grown up in the Our Lady of Rose Hill Catholic orphanage in New Britain and friends say she wanted to go to California with a close friend after turning eighteen. Friends who asked about her whereabouts were told by her brothers that she had run away.

No official missing persons report was filed until 2016, when her niece Tina submitted one, meaning the case went decades without formal investigation. Family accounts point to a troubled home life; Irene’s sister-in-law, Susan LaRosa, also disappeared in June 1975 and her remains were found in 1978, though any link between the two cases is unclear. Irene’s disappearance is sometimes mentioned alongside other unsolved local cases from the era, but those connections remain speculative.

Anyone who knew Irene, her family, or her movements in early 1971 is asked to come forward with information.