Flat Tires and Cigarette Ashes: The 1981 Disappearance of Audrey Chin in Nassau County

Missing Person's Name: Audrey Chin

Last contact: July 8th, 1981 (Wednesday); another source says July 7th, 1981

Missing from: East Norwich, New York

Age when she disappeared: 20 (born June 1st, 1961)

Sex: Female

Height in inches: 57 (broad range given of 48 to 57 inches; would be 4'0" to 4'9"); another source calls her 4'10."

Weight in pounds (lbs): 90-100

Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese background)

Hair color: Black

Eye Color: Brown, wore glasses according to NamUs though not pictured with them in any photo I saw.

Scar or distinctive characteristic: Left side of nose freckle.

Facebook Group: Audrey Chin's Facebook Group for the Audrey Chin disappearance

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Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): MP left her residence in her mother's vehicle. The car was located abandoned in Nassau County. Her vehicle was found in a parking lot at a diner on Old Country Road in Plainview with three flat tires, making this a "Car Found Person Missing" case. Other sources claim the number of flat tires was different.

The vehicle was a 1976 Chevrolet Nova (Chevy II and Concours). The vehicle was sedan-style (meaning it was a four-door car). The car was blue (the color is inconsistent between sources) with New York State plates of 258FCL. Another source called the car "tan" with a vinyl top.

This is not the actual car, nor it is the actual diner. Meant to show a likeness to Chin's vehicle based on the descriptions.

Link to government source: https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/116093?nav

Audrey Chin. 19 Jul 1981, Sun Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: July 15th, 2024

The missing person case of Audrey Chin is one that had some journalism coverage, both at the time of her disappearance and even in modern times. Chin disappeared while, perhaps "ostensibly," driving to perform some errands. She left to get the family cat from the vet, returned home, and then drove out to get some orange juice. After she dropped the cat off at home, she was never seen again.

According to NamUs, she was last seen on July 8th, 1981, which was a Wednesday. However, the newspaper coverage at the time and in modern times says July 7th, 1981 was the day she disappeared. The first hit for her case in the newspapers appeared on July 19th, 1981 (the classified advertisement embedded above).

The dates slightly contradicting between the journalism and NamUs is one detail to be aware of. Also, another detail is that NamUs says that three tires were flat when the car was found. Contemporary journalism says that two of the tires were flat. Meanwhile, a Facebook post says that all four tires were flat. The vehicle was found at a diner about three weeks after Chin was last seen. That means the car was found around July 28th, 1981.

June 3rd, 2024. Newsday.

They have DNA from a family member to see if it can help match to a Jane Doe. But if there was a hit, then the news would have been expected in August to October of 2024. As of March 2025, Chin's case is still listed at NamUs.

Chin was involved with a married man

According to the June 3rd article in Newsday from 2024, Chin was having an affair with an older man who was married. The article says that the man died more than a decade ago now.

I had several thoughts on this case. At first, I wondered if the flat tires meant that she might have been the victim of a Good Samaritan's Ruse.

In this kind of missing person's case, the MP's car is sabotaged by someone who then shows up to help her with the vehicle problems. This person then disappears the MP. However, when I read about the affair with a married man, my mind went another way.

I wondered if she might have been pregnant. Also, one has to wonder whose cigarettes were found in the car.

The flat tires might be a red herring in this case. Anything can happen to a vehicle that sits unattended in a parking lot for three weeks. But they might be part of the case as well.

Jane Does and My Guess on What Happened

Presuming she is dead, Chin's skeletal remains might mistakenly be considered to be an adolescent as she was diminutive. However, DNA from the family is available.

On the matter of DNA, I wondered if the cigarettes might yield some. I asked in the Facebook group if they tested the cigarettes for DNA and await a response.

From what I read, DNA is hard to get from cigarettes unless the authorities are fast to test them. At the time of her disappearance, DNA testing had not yet been established in legal cases.

There are two Jane Does from the area that are considered to be of interest. I'm not sure I would call either to be too promising.

One of them has a death date estimated between 2003 and 2008 while Chin disappeared many years before then. Another Jane Doe is of a small-statured individual that Boy Scouts found in 2003.

However, the PMI (post-mortem interval) for this Jane Done is thought to be three years, meaning this individual is thought to have died in 2000 or so. I would presume that Chin died at about the time of her disappearance in 1981.

Death-date estimates when dealing with skeletal remains can be far off, but they would have to be off by about 20 years for one of these Jane Does to be Audrey Chin. That said, the heights match and they are both near where she was last seen.

The Plainview Diner: Where Her Car Was Found

A classified ad with the address of the diner. April 20th, 1980 edition of the Newsday paper.

By my research, the address where the car was found would be 1094 Old Country Road. This was the address of the Plainview Diner. Over the years, the diner used a lot of classified advertisements to find staff and included the address in their ads sometimes.

The restaurant, which was described as "closed" in modern journalism, can be viewed on June 2024's edition of Google Maps. It appears in a grainy Google Maps image at the same location as early as September 2008. By modern routes, the drive from the MP's home on Ross Lane to the restaurant is only sixteen minutes.

If I were to hazard a guess as to what happened it would be that she was murdered by someone she knew. There was a lot of dirt on the vehicle, which was called "mud-splattered" in the Newsday article.

I wondered if the mud could contain any organic matter that might be linked to a location in the area. However, that kind of investigation would require a substantial budget and it seems such resources are simply not available.

There were thunderstorms predicted in the weather reports from July 5th and humid conditions in general, according to my research. This would make any dirt roads sloppy.

Has Audrey Chin Been Found?

My guess is whoever disappeared her put her in the vehicle and drove to a secluded location to bury her remains, perhaps using dirt roads to get to this location. This is the reason why the vehicle was "mud-splattered." This same possibly off-road trip may have damaged the tires or perhaps they were damaged deliberately as the unknown assailant tried to obfuscate the matter. Or the tires were simply vandalized as abandoned vehicles often are.

Brian Thomas Vargo -- Missing Since March 9th, 1976

Details from NamUs**: 

"Vargo was a University of Texas at Austin Student. Vargo dropped out of school in March. Vargo traveled to Colorado in his vehicle. His vehicle broke down in Colorado. Vargo traveled to Houston, Texas to pick up the vehicle's title. His mother dropped him off at the bus station in Houston (unknown date). Family was notified he had not returned to his apartment. When family arrived at his apartment in Austin, Texas Vargo's wallet was in the apartment."

Missing Person: Brian Thomas Vargo
Last-contact date: March 9th, 1976
The area where the MP was last seen: Austin, Texas
Link to government source: NamUS #MP77718

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 20 years old
Birthdate: between March 10th, 1955 and March 9th, 1956

• I'm not sure of the exact birthdate for Brian Thomas Vargo but a date range can be calculated using his age at the time of the disappearance.

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Scar: Above right eye
Height/weight: 6-foot-0 and 150 pounds
BMI*: Brian Thomas Vargo was in the normal range for BMI.

• Please, Google-search BMI if you aren't familiar with the phrase. I think it's an important tool to be aware of when working on missing person cases.

Tattoos: Brian Thomas Vargo did not have any tattoos associated with his profiles. If you know this to be a mistake, then please contact this site.

Brian Thomas Vargo was last heard from on March 9th, 1976, when he was 20 years of age. I read a Facebook post about what constituted his last-known contact and evidently, he withdrew from classes at the University of Texas at Austin on that date. This individual has now been missing for 45 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.

Brian Vargo had a chipped front tooth. That distinctive characteristic is part of his skeletal system and would be a part of any post-mortem remains under most circumstances. I looked for someone with a chipped tooth in the NamUs John Does but did not find anyone that I felt was Brian Vargo.

What you can do to help with this case, is do a similar search. John Does get added to the database all the time. If you are reading this more than three months after publication (March 4th, 2021), then go to NamUs and do a new search for "chipped and tooth" ("and" is a boolean operator with the site) in the unidentified person database. Follow this link and scroll down to Distinctive Physical Features. In order for any John Doe that comes up to possibly be Brian, the body would have to be found after the date Brian was last heard from. 

What stands out with this case, is the wallet. What does it mean for the wallet to be in his apartment but for him not to be?

Individuals that go out into public without their wallets are actually at increased risk of becoming John Does. There have been many individuals that have been hit by cars without their wallets that have died and not been identified or not been identified for decades. Getting hit by a car without your wallet is one mishap that can make you a John Doe. There are many others.

For this case, I read a lengthy post at the Facebook group dedicated to finding this missing person. I gleaned the following details about Brian from that group:

• He drank alcohol
• He used marijuana
• He received a citation for having a small amount of marijuana and it's mentioned that he was on probation at some point
• He seemed to have a "nicotine habit" at one point that he was trying to beat
• In the Fall of 1975, he started to do poorly in school after making the Dean's List at previous times
• He talked about finding himself and clearing his head
• He was evidently having back troubles as he went to a chiropractor on February 27th, 1976

I think the balance of reasonable conjecture would suggest that he was secretly depressed. Things did not seem to be going well for him at all. Additional to the problems above, his car recently broke down as per the NamUs description. None of these problems are all that bad but for someone having a difficult time, they could all be compiling. You have to wonder about the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

As for finding him, I recommend looking for a John Doe with the following:

• A chipped front tooth
• Body found after March 9th, 1976 with no wallet or ID
• A John Doe that is believed to have been dead since March of 1976
• Reasonable proximity to Colorado, Austin, and Houston are all in play

Please, take a moment to share this on social media using hashtags relevant to the missing person's area. Also, please include the website hashtag #MPCSL.

Author: Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing person's case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

Patrick N. Chapman -- Missing in Missouri Since May 2020

Missing person: Patrick N. Chapman

Last-contact date: May 1st, 2020 as per NamUs; another source says May 10th, 2020
Disappeared from: Greenville, Missouri but car found near Mill Spring, Missouri

Link to Government Source: #MP70614

NamUs description: "Patrick was last seen in the Greenville, Missouri area on 5/1/2020. His vehicle, a burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort, was also missing at the time. The vehicle was later recovered on 5/29/2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri." 

Facebook Group: Bring Patrick Chapman Home

Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 34 years old

Birthdate: February 24th, 1986
Hair: Brown, may have a beard
Eye color: Brown
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'6" and 160 pounds

Tattoos: "Chapman" on right forearm, sun between shoulder blades, cross on shoulder
Vehicle: He was driving a burgundy 1995 Ford Escort (station-wagon style). "His car was discovered weeks after his disappearance on a gravel road not too far from the Mill Spring Cemetery" (Wayne County Journal Banner).

Articles: 

1. May or may not have had a necklace with a wisdom tree on it.
2. May have had sunglasses.
3. Possibly wearing blue work pants, black boots, and a black and white woven pullover. Was known to wear a ball cap.

Author: Shane Lambert (Facebook profile)

Facebook Group: Missing Person Commentary

Twitter: @UncoolNegated (Twitter)

Pinterest: Missing Person Board
Original Time of Writing: February 15th, 2021

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL 

Jessica Diane Vanzant Dietzel -- Missing Since February 2020

 

Missing person: Jessica Diane Vanzant Dietzel

Last-contact date: February 16th, 2021 (as per NamUs) or February 18th, 2021 (see poster below)
Disappeared from: Albany, Georgia

Link to Government Source: NamUs #MP68258
News Source With Timeline: WALB News from Albany, Georgia

News Source From September 2020: WALB News

Facebook Group: Bring JVD Home

Ethnicity/Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 21 years old

Birthdate: June or July 23rd, 1998

Hair: Blond/strawberry
Eye color: Green
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'7" and 150 pounds
Piercings: right nostril (nose ring), upper lip piercing (left side), lower lip (right side); see snippings below

Tattoos: 

1. Stars on right thigh (see missing person poster above)
2. "Elena" Upper Right Chest (sees snippings below)
3. "Kenny Man" Upper Left Chest (sees snippings below)
4. Heart near left thumb (sees snippings below)
5. "Perfectly flawed" Left Thigh (see snippings below)
6. There may be additional tattoos

1

Author: Shane Lambert (Facebook profile)

Twitter: @UncoolNegated (Twitter)

Pinterest: Missing Person Board
Original Time of Writing: 

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

Darian Michelle Hudson -- Missing Since October 2017

 

Missing person: Darian Michelle Hudson

Alias: D or DBaby

Last-contact date: October 26th, 2017 (Thursday)*
Disappeared from: northwest of Stillwater, Oklahoma at the intersection of Country Club and McElroy

*October 26th, 2017 is according to a Facebook post from her group.

Link to Government Source: NamUs #MP40719

Ethnicity/Race: Black
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 23 years old
Hair: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'3" and 120 pounds

Tattoo: As pictured
Clothing: White t-shirt, jeans

Piercings: Nose and ear

Facebook group: Darian Hudson's Missing Person Facebook Group

Circumstances as per Kake.com:

"Stillwater Police have been searching for Darian Hudson since Oct. 22, 2017. She was suspected missing after not showing up for work.

Detectives in Stillwater...were able to track Darian’s movements through the evening of Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. On that date, she was last seen sitting in a wooded area and walking toward an intersection northwest of Stillwater.

'A Human Recovery Dog and handler were brought into the area on Monday, December 4,' Stillwater Police shared online. 'For two days they searched a large portion of the wooded area south, east and west of the intersection. Some of her belongings were found abandoned in the area but Darian was not located. At this point police have no leads indicating what has happened to Darian or where she may have gone after being seen on the 26th.'

Darian was in the process of moving to Kansas. 

Family and friends told police that Darian does not have a vehicle. She may be suffering from a mental health crisis."

By Kansas, specifically, they meant Wichita, Kansas. If you are tweeting this case, then use Hashtags for that city.

Police were alerted to the "wooded area" mentioned above after they discovered someone that tried to use her debit card. This person, a male, stated "he found the card in a purse near the construction site of a church in Stillwater."

I'm sure the police would have had some questions for this person. For me, there is the question of how he planned to use the debit card without the PIN. It seems pretty futile to try and guess it.

This case detail, where someone was discovered trying to use a missing person's bank card, is similar to the missing person case of Emma Filipoff. That case is from Vancouver Island and involved a purchased debit card, the kind you get at the store with a balance on it. In Filipoff's case, the individual who used her card had found it after it had been discarded or lost.

The man that took her bank card said that he took it from a purse in October 2017. He tried to use it in December 2017. In my opinion, taking a card from someone's purse and then trying to use it involves Mens Rea. In contrast, the individual who found the debit card in Filipoff's case does not, in my view.

The best news source I found on this missing person's case is from NBC: Read More. All descriptions, in this case, suggest despondence and themes of depression involving the missing person. Those factors would make a reasonable person think that the potential for suicide is in play with Hudson but it's important not to be closed to other possibilities.

If you read the playing card below, there is a caption that reads "INMATE ACCESS #20." I'm taking that to mean that these are playing cards that are distributed to prisoners. The 5 of hearts in the deck is Darian Hudson.

Author: Shane Lambert (Facebook profile)

Twitter: @UncoolNegated (Twitter)

Pinterest: Missing Person Board
Original Time of Writing: 

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

Angel Rene Sexton -- Missing From Logan, Ohio Since February 2011

Missing person: Angel Rene Sexton

Aliases: Angela Rena, Angel Renee, Angel Hedrick
Last-contact date: February 2nd, 2011 (was a Wednesday)
Disappeared from: Logan, Ohio

Link to Government Source: #MP11816

Other Source: Charley Project

Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 37 years old

Birthdate: September 1973
Hair: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 4'10" to 5'1" and about 118 pounds
Tattoos: One of her arms has an unknown tattoo

According to the Charley Project: Sexton was last seen in Logan, Ohio, on February 2, 2011. She left her four-year-old daughter with a babysitter and has never been heard from again. Sexton may be in Columbus, Ohio. Few details are available in her case.

Author: Shane Lambert (link opens to my Facebook profile)
Twitter: @UncoolNegated (link to Twitter)
Original Time of Writing: January 29th, 2021
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

March 25th, 2025 Update

I took a second look at this case about four years after originally posting the content below. The information at the Charley Project and NamUs remains unadjusted. Furthermore, there still isn't a missing person news article about her anywhere that I could find. What's below, is what was written on January 29th, 2021. I did make some edits as some links have died.

Original Time of Writing Content Below: Minor Edits

This was a difficult case to find information on. It seems that the sources on Angel Rene Sexton are all rewrites of the same information.

Furthermore, this missing person had many aliases. That can make it harder to research when it comes to keyword searching. You have to mix-and-match first names, middle names, and last names in the databases and then search engines to find information -- each step of the way, combing through countless people with similar names.

However, I was able to find her birth date, which is above. I have her exact birth date in my case notes.

One question I had was the exact location of her tattoo and what it depicted. It could help in this case as it can help in any missing person case.

For names associated with Angel Rene Sexton, her parents were Gary Dewain Sexton and Audrey Irene Sexton. There are also online comments regarding Angel as follows (link doesn't show anything in March 2025 but the comments below were once there):

"sammy gatenburg: I miss her she was my cousin.

12 22, 2014 | 15:54

Gina rarick: I miss her too she was my best friend before she moved back to Ohio"

The 'names' above might be usernames. I think these are people who might be willing to help iron out the details of this case if they know any, but I had trouble finding them in the time that I had allotted to look at this case. Another question regarding Angel would be why she was thought to be in the Columbus area.

The Facebook page for her missing person case was available online but has since been removed or limited.

Furthermore, I found her address to be on Linton Road in Logan, Ohio at the time of her disappearance. I think she was living in the Logan Village Apartments.

Address matches using search engines need to be taken with a grain of salt. I don't think websites really can report on where someone lived, but they may get information from documents instead. Documents can be true or false. But I noted one different last name staying at the same address as Sexton, an address that matched right to the apartment number for what would be an overlapping time frame.

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Similar Case

When I highlight similar cases, it is not to say that the cases are related in an investigative way. However, history repeats itself because and I think similar cases provide food for thought.

What does it mean when a mother leaves a child at a babysitter and then disappears? Does it mean she disappeared voluntarily, or was she disappeared by someone?

Between the two, I would lean a little to the former. I think a mother who disappears after taking her child to the babysitter will often be someone who is finding life a little heavy at the moment, wishes for something different, but wants to make sure her child is in safe hands while she sorts matters out. From this perspective, getting a babysitter might be a step in a plan to disappear voluntarily.

What does it mean when that person still isn't accounted for ten years later? That's a different question.

Lorraine Judith Chance is a missing person from many decades ago who disappeared after leaving her child at a babysitter's. Readers can read about her case details here: Lorraine Judith Chance.