Grisell Camacho was a 37-year-old Puerto Rican woman from Newark whose remains were found on or around March 1, 2001, inside a bus-style van parked in a mechanic’s lot off 18th Avenue near Alexander Street in Vailsburg. Family accounts say she had been living in a basement apartment on Sunset Avenue owned by her brother, struggled with drugs but kept pet birds, and was last seen the evening of February 28 when a man known to the family visited and was later seen leaving the apartment the next morning claiming Grisell had gone out to pick something up.

Her brother says he identified bruising or impressions on the back of her neck at the coroner’s office and that the family found sheets heavily soaked in blood hidden under a mattress two weeks after the body was found; detectives reportedly collected the sheets but the brother later says there was no record of them in the evidence. Family advocates contend the investigation stalled early, that there was little media attention, and that questions remain about whether DNA from the van or other evidence was preserved.

No public autopsy records or official explanations are included in these accounts. If anyone knew Grisell, saw the van near 18th Avenue and Alexander Street in late February or early March 2001, or has information about the man who visited her that night, please share what is known with the family or investigators.