Bernadette Caruso

Bernadette Caruso a 23-year-old mother who vanished on her way home from work in September 1986.

Bernadette was close to her family and friends and loved being a mother to her 3-year-old daughter Nicole. Bernadette worked at the East Point Mall in Northeastern Baltimore County Maryland.

She and her coworkers were close and often hung out after work. On September 27, 1986, she had plans to meet up with one of her coworkers around 9 PM that night.

When Bernadette finished her shift at 5 PM on September 27 she told her coworker that she was on her way to meet with her husband to discuss some things as they had been separated, and were on their way towards divorce.

Bernadette and her husband, Paul Michael were said to have been in a pretty bitter custody battle over their daughter Nicole. However, this weekend had already been established that Nicole would be staying with her father Paul Micheal.

Paul Michael Caruso was an ex-Baltimore County police officer who had been let go from the department due to police brutality. An investigation would prove that he had abused a prisoner.

There are mixed reports, but there are reports that Bernadette did have domestic dispute charges filed against Paul Michael, and there were those around them when they were married who often witnessed him threaten Bernadette.

I have to make this very clear. These are all alleged accusations against Paul Michael and he has never been charged in his wife’s disappearance.

Bernadette was last seen, leaving the Eastpoint mall in her grandmother’s green 1982 Chevy Cavalier with Maryland license plate tag FYW-097 around 5 pm.

Bernadette had just freshly deposited a check earlier in the day and had purchased a jacket for her night out with a friend from work. They planned to meet up around 9 PM and when her friend never received that call at 9 PM she tried calling Bernadette, but she didn’t answer. Her friend and coworker just figured something came up.

No one would be alerted to the fact that Bernadette was Missing until Sunday when Paul Michael said he stopped over to Bernadette’s house to bring back Nicole for the week as that was part of their arrangement at the time. Paul Michael says when he knocked on the door, there was no answer, and he did call and inform Burnnadett’s family that he would be keeping Nicole until they heard from Bernadette.

This case was investigated from the jump, but there was no sign of Bernadett or the car that she left on that day at the end of her shift. The check she had just deposited earlier was never touched. No money was ever withdrawn from the account and no one has ever seen, or heard from Bernadette ever again.

Her family and friends say that Bernadette would never leave Nicole behind. She was a dedicated and loving mother.

Her family has fought to keep her story in the public for years. Unfortunately, with Bernadett gone, they missed out on a lot of Nicole and a relationship with her and even more heartbreakingly Nicole recently suddenly passed away without ever getting answers about what happened to her mother.

Nicole spent her childhood wondering where her mother was and her adult life searching for her and was never given the answers.

Bernadette’s family has continued the crusade with her sisters fighting for her, as well as one of her sisters who married a Baltimore police officer who worked on Bernadette’s case and has continued to push to take Burrnadett’s case and the evidence they have to a grand jury but unfortunately they haven’t been successful.

I came across an article in 2013 where her family was trying to raise money for sonar to look at the local bodies of water to see if they could find her car because both Bernadette and her car vanished.

I could not find any information if they were ever successful in that and unfortunately, the article mentions a website run by Bernadette‘s family but I can’t find that website and they didn’t link it.

To not have the answers to what happened to Bernadette and then to lose Nicole is so much for her family to have gone through and they deserve answers.

At this point, they just want to know where her remains are and they want to bring her home, they hate feeling that she’s been left out there somewhere.

I’ve said it before I know other creators and family members have said it, the only way to get this case to move forward is either to get public pressure on the Baltimore County attorney general’s office, generate new leads, or both. The only way we can do that is by keeping Bernadette’s face and name in the public.

Too many of Burrnadett’s family members have passed without answers that they deserved so please take a moment to share Bernadette’s story in whatever format you’re comfortable with to include word-of-mouth.

It’s been 37 years and with the anniversary of her disappearance coming up let’s honor her by making sure we amplify her voice and shine a light on her case.

As always, I will have more information and source links on my Sippingonsomecrime page for Bernadette’s case

Every time we share a face, we get closer to solving a case

Thank you for taking a moment to learn about Bernadett today