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www.justiceforchandra.com Justice for Chandra Levy and missing women
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fallout
Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 566 Location: The Great NorthEast
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 12:06 pm Post subject: Bank Analyst Missing in New York City |
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BANKING ANALYST MISSING
By KATE SHEEHY, DAN KADISON and MURRAY WEISS
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MARIA CRUZ
Last seen by doorman.
April 23, 2003 -- A rising star at Barclay's Bank has gone missing, baffling cops and leaving her family frantic over what may have happened to the "extremely cautious," 30-year-old analyst.
"I have to think that she's OK, because if I don't make myself believe she is, I'm going to fall apart," said a distraught Jun Cruz, 42, of his sister Maria.
Cops say Maria Cruz was last seen by her doorman April 13, a Sunday, when she entered the luxury apartment building at 305 W. 50th St. at 9 p.m.
Friends and relatives said they fear foul play, since Maria seemed to be on top of her game professionally, having landed an $180,000-a-year job - enough to finally move from the room she rented for years from nuns at a local Catholic dormitory.
But an ex-dormmate yesterday said Maria also was troubled at times - distraught over a recent breakup with her boyfriend, stressed over work she found increasingly unsatisfying, and unhappy enough with her looks to undergo plastic surgery.
Eleanor Estor, a 50-year-old teacher who lives at St. Joseph's on West 44th Street, said that when Maria lived there, she would come to her room weepy, spilling her woes.
"She said she had a lot of ideas [at work], but in that conference room, she doesn't get the same recognition as others, especially white men," said Estor, who is Filipina, as is her friend.
"She was considering changing careers, becoming a teacher. I said, ‘Why?' She said, ‘Look, you're so happy,' " Estor said.
Maria was thinking about moving, possibly to Chicago, where her ex-boyfriend had just relocated, Estor said. The pair broke up in November, after four "very intense" months.
"Although he told her point blank it was over, saying he was getting married, she was still holding a torch for him," Estor said.
Maria also had a self-image problem, prompting her to seek breast implants and have fat removed from her face, Estor said.
Still, Estor insisted, Maria was "a very strong girl, despite all her ups and downs."
"She seemed happy [overall], and I know she wouldn't harm herself physically," Estor said.
Family and coworkers at her Midtown office agreed.
Her uncle José Navarro called his niece a "very religious," bright person.
"I just have a feeling there is foul play," he said.
There were no signs of forced entry at her home.
Nothing was missing, besides her sneakers and purse, Navarro said.
Jun Cruz, who flew from Manila to visit Maria over Easter, said his sister never would have willingly left right before he arrived.
"She would never miss seeing me," Jun said.
"I am going to find her, one way or another."
TRAIL OF CLUES IN ANALYST VANISH
By LARRY CELONA and ERIC LENKOWITZ
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MARIA CRUZ
Abduction unlikely.
April 24, 2003 -- The promising Barclays Bank analyst who mysteriously vanished from her Midtown apartment building went to church, went shopping and withdrew cash the day she disappeared - and it doesn't appear she was abducted, police sources said.
Maria Cruz, 30 - who was last seen on April 13 entering her building at 305 W. 50th St. at 9 p.m. by her doorman - used a credit card for purchases at Grand Central Terminal and Loehmann's at Seventh Avenue and 16th Street.
She also took out an undisclosed amount of cash from an ATM, sources said.
Her brother, Jun Cruz, said his "very religious" sister was also seen that day, which was Palm Sunday, at St. Malachy's Church on West 49th Street by a friend, but the two didn't talk.
"These are the worst days of my life," Jun Cruz said. "It's terrible, the uncertainty. I cannot sleep. If I take a rest, I feel guilty because I know she is still out there."
Sources said there is no evidence of a kidnapping.
The Filipina immigrant was apparently still depressed over breaking up with her boyfriend, who now lives in Chicago, the sources said.
Jun Cruz said his sister - who graduated Fordham University with straight A's and worked her way up from a low-level position at Citibank to a $180,000 a year job at Barclays - was very happy at work.
He also said she worked hard at her appearance.
"She put a lot of pressure on herself," he said, noting her membership at the Crunch gym on Lafayette Street and that she frequently went jogging.
Additional reporting by Marianne Garvey |
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rd
Joined: 13 Sep 2002 Posts: 9273 Location: Jacksonville, FL
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Anything more on Maria, James? For once I don't see an intimate in the picture to silence her. Still, a random kidnapping from an expensive apartment building?
rd |
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fallout
Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 566 Location: The Great NorthEast
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 9:45 am Post subject: |
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There are missing person pictures for Maria being posted around town. Here's a story that is probably not related but it happened at the same time. Maria was a BANK ANALYST. Could she have been handling the account for Abacus Bank?
FEDS HUNTING BANK-PANIC BILK SUSPECT
By DAN KADISON and JOHN LEHMANN
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CAROL LIM
Accused in $1M scam.
April 25, 2003 -- The FBI expanded the search yesterday for the woman accused of a $1 million Chinatown bank embezzlement that prompted hundreds of panicked customers to demand their funds for a third straight day.
Fired bank manager Carol Lim allegedly opened fake accounts, falsified records and siphoned away big money from Abacus Federal Savings Bank while she was a manager of the Canal Street branch.
Lim was not at her Sunset Park home when investigators came to arrest her. She's now being sought by the FBI, said one law-enforcement official.
The run on Abacus branches, which are located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Philadelphia and Edison, N.J., started Tuesday when Chinese-language news reports broke the story of the missing moolah.
Felix Ching, 22, of Queens, decided it was time to chuck his Abacus accounts.
After working at a restaurant, he's managed to deposit "over $10,000" and there's no way he's "going to lose [his] savings" - no matter what the bank says.
"I don't believe it," said Ching. "I only trust my money." |
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fallout
Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 566 Location: The Great NorthEast
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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I'm getting an impression of increasing lawlessness in the city. That's the first time in over four years I've noticed it. We've had an increase in shootings, robberies, rapes and now two missing women in the last two months (Not counting the bank manager above Ms. Lim who is probably on the Lam!).
Our new mayor Bloomberg is cutting back on the police, rescue and fire budgets and its really starting to show. Lots more homeless and 'aggressive youths' wandering the streets of New York.
I hated him as President but I wouldn't mind old Bill Clinton making a run for Mayor next time. At least he could bring back some of our tax dollars from the bureauCats down in DC.
I'm going over to a cab stand on west 51st street today to put up some posters of Svetlana Aronov and will stroll by 305 w 50th to see what it looks like.
Do you find the visiting brother a little suspicious?
Cheers,
James |
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jane
Joined: 22 Sep 2002 Posts: 3225
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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Governments always get it wrong - basic macroeconomics says they're suupposed to tax during good years and spend during bad. During good years they should tax but not spend - save the money and spend when the economic cycle turns downward. But to use sound economic policy wouldn't help win elections - that's the problem. |
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