Pittsburgh woman who disappeared in 1964 after husband said she left family found buried in her backyard

A Pittsburgh woman who disappeared in 1964 was found buried in her own backyard 55 years after she was last seen, police said Thursday.

Skeletal remains were found by construction workers in February 2018, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Police confirmed last week that they belonged to Mary Arcuri, who was 36 when her husband claimed she left their family and was never to be seen again, the paper reported.

Mary Arcuri and Albert Arcuri bought the home at 5445 Black St in the early 1960s. Four years later, Albert reportedly told his family that Mary left the home and took all her belongings with her.

No police or missing person report was ever filed.

The prompt disappearance sparked whispers among the town, including that the two had been having relationship problems and Albert accused Mary of cheating.

Charles Sberna, Mary Arcuri’s great-nephew, told the Post Gazette his family even believed his great-uncle had murdered his great-aunt. He remembered Arcuri as a man who “didn’t like kids; he was mean.”

Police said they cannot speculate on how Mary Arcuri died or why she was buried in the backyard. Albert Arcuri died in 1965 in a car accident.

When the skeletal remains were found last year, police consulted with retired Assistant Chief Therese Rocco, who led the bureau’s missing person unit for years and was the godmother of Arcuri’s daughter.

Cops initially thought the remains were of another woman, but Rocco provided them with detective copies of a report and dental records that disproved that belief.

Rocco soon learned that the home had been owned by Arcuris and remembered the rumors that had swirled.

Investigators looked into Acuri’s disappearance and used a living relative’s DNA to confirm the identification.

Sberna told the paper his family learned of the news before it was made public.

“It would have been nice if my mother and grandmother knew,” he added.