Norine Higuchi Brown

• Missing Since 12/12/1990
• Missing From New Hyde Park, New York
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Asian, Biracial, White
• Date of Birth 12/13/1958 (65)
• Age 31 years old
• Height and Weight Unknown
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A dark-colored wool coat, red slacks and white sneakers.
• Associated Vehicle(s) Station wagon (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Biracial (Asian/Caucasian) female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Norine is of German and Japanese descent.

Details of Disappearance

Norine was last seen in New Hyde Park, New York at 11:00 p.m. on December 12, 1990, the day before her thirty-second birthday. Her husband, John Brown, said she left to go buy ingredients for Christmas cookies and never returned. She has never been heard from again.

The next morning, John called Norine's friend, Elaine Commando, and said she'd never come home the night before. He said they'd argued and asked if Norine had spent the night at Commando's house, which was near the Browns' home. She hadn't; Commando had no idea where she was.

John asked Commando to go to the Pathmark Super Center (now defunct) on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park, New York and look for her car. The shopping center was only about a mile from the Browns' home. Commando went there and found Norine's station wagon abandoned in the parking lot; it was locked and there were wrapped Christmas presents inside it.

Norine has never been heard from again. She had only $45 in her pocketbook at the time of her disappearance, and she left her wallet and identification behind at home.

Investigators don't know whether she actually went inside the supermarket that night. It wasn't uncharacteristic of her to go shopping at odd hours, because she preferred to go when stores were less crowded. A Pathmark employee recalled seeing Norine's car in the parking lot shortly after 11:00 p.m. on the night of her disappearance, but no one remembered seeing Norine herself.

Commando stated John and Norine had a rocky relationship and she thinks John may have killed her. He hired an attorney after her disappearance and refused to let police search his and Norine's home and property. He maintains his innocence in her case and stated he thinks Norine was murdered.

Norine left behind two children under the age of two. Her husband has since remarried and had two more children, and still lives in the local area. No one has been named as a suspect in Norine's disappearance.