Josephine Chatraw, 36 and a mother of five, was last seen July 29, 1984, at her Seymour Street home in Syracuse. That night she called her sister distressed after a disagreement with her boyfriend, Philip Whaley; this was the last known contact. She was reported missing August 3, 1984.

Neighbors reported seeing Whaley physically assault Chatraw and drag her back into his apartment the night she vanished. Whaley told authorities she left on her own and he saw her walking on Seymour Street, but she was never seen again. He had been arrested weeks earlier for unlawfully imprisoning and assaulting Chatraw and later became the prime suspect.

In 1996 Whaley was convicted of Chatraw’s murder despite her body never being recovered; he was also convicted in the disappearance and killing of Margaret Reiley. The location of Josephine Chatraw’s remains remains unknown and foul play is suspected.