The Murdered
Michelle Maenza
Rochester, New York
🕊️ Remembering Michelle Maenza 🕊️
Michelle Maenza was an 11 year old victim of the Alphabet Killer whose disappearance and death deeply affected the Rochester, New York community. On November 26, 1973, she went missing after leaving school to retrieve her mother’s purse from a nearby shopping plaza and never returned home. Witnesses later reported seeing her crying in the passenger seat of a beige or tan car, and hours later a man was observed holding a girl believed to be Michelle along a roadside before acting threateningly toward a passing motorist. Two days later, her body was found in a rural area about 15 miles from Rochester. Investigators determined she had been violently sexually assaulted and killed, with evidence suggesting the crime occurred near where she was discovered. Additional clues, including witness sightings and forensic findings, helped piece together her final movements, though her case remains one of the most haunting unsolved crimes linked to the Alphabet murders. Michelle was laid to rest at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery alongside the other victims, Carmen Colon and Wanda Walkowicz.
https://ashmysteries.com/2025/12/30/the-murdered-carmen-colon/
https://ashmysteries.com/2025/12/19/the-murdered-wanda-walkowicz/
If you have any information, please call the New York State Police Troop E, Major Crimes Unit, Canandaigua, New York at (585) 398-4100 or e-mail the information to nysvicap@troopers.ny.gov. 🕯️💔
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_murders
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45750396/michelle-maenza/photo#view-photo=24431346
The Lost & The Taken 