Susan Walsh (February 18, 1960 – disappeared July 16, 1996)
was an American writer and
freelance journalist
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...
who disappeared outside her home in
Nutley, New Jersey, on July 16, 1996.
Her disappearance was widely publicized into the late 1990s, especially after several newspapers and media outlets published articles implying that it was potentially linked to the
Russian mafia
Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) G ...
or New York City's underground
vampire community, both subjects that she had investigated while writing for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
''.
Walsh's case has been profiled on multiple television programs, including ''
Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...
'' in 1997 and ''
Disappeared
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiz ...
'' in 2012. She was the subject of a 1998 book titled ''Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today'' by
Katherine Ramsland
Katherine Ramsland (born January 2, 1953) is an American non-fiction author and professor of forensic psychology. Ramsland has written 60 books and more than 1,000 articles, mostly in the genres of crime, forensic science, and the supernatura ...
.