How to Solve a Murder: Part Six
by Arwa Mahdawi
In July 1996, 36-year-old Susan Walsh supposedly left her house in New Jersey and never came back. She is presumed dead but a body has never been found. This is Part Six of a series on my five-year investigation into her unsolved disappearance.
To catch up, here are Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
Mark Walsh walked into the police station in Nutley, New Jersey at around noon on July 17, 1996, to report his ex-wife Susan missing, just about 24 hours from the time we can last confirm that she was alive. Records note that Mark told the police the following:
Susan left…around Noon saying she would return later. A few hours later a friend arrived to pick her up for work and she was not home. Mark stated that Susan has been depressed with her job as a Go Go dancer and her poor health. He believes she has been involved in prostitution and stated that she had attempted suicide about three weeks ago by cutting her right wrist. Mark stated Police were not notified at that time. Mark does not know where she works only that she dances at several locations. Susan was entered [in] NCIC as a missing person.
As noted previously, Susan was depressed and had escalated her drug use immediately prior to her disappearance. From interviews with Susan’s friends and family, I got the impression that she hadn’t cut her wrists seriously enough to need medical attention, but even so, it was erratic behavior, and seemed to be a cry for help. She had written down her plans for that Tuesday, though. Friends reported that she seemed excited about the launch of Red Light, the book she’d helped Jim Ridgeway write.
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