'It's a mystery,' says attorney in case of missing couple last seen in Old Brookville on March 30
Nearly two months have passed since JuanJuan Zwang and her husband Peishuan Fan were last seen at their Old Brookville mansion.
They had a "normal dinner" with their sons, a 12-year-old and a 20-year-old university student, and some of the younger child’s friends on March 30, said John Carman, a Garden City-based attorney representing the older child, Yiwei Fan.
The next morning, the two brothers and the older brother’s girlfriend drove to the Catskills for an overnight stay. They left their Old Brookville house without seeing their parents, which was common in a home of more than 6,000 square feet, Carman said.
The couple was reported missing later that night, police said.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- JuanJuan Zwang and her husband, Peishuan Fan, were last seen at their Old Brookville mansion on Maria Lane on March 30.
- The Nassau County Police Department’s Missing Persons Squad is investigating the couple’s disappearance, which has shocked neighbors in the affluent community and left the couple's two children without their parents.
- Fan’s disappearance is also listed in NamUs, a national database of missing people. It notes he was "last seen by son at their home in Old Brookville N.Y."
"It is a mystery, no doubt about it," said Carman, adding no one knows if the couple fled, were abducted or were the victims of foul play.
The Nassau County Police Department’s Missing Persons Squad is investigating the couple’s disappearance, which has shocked neighbors in the affluent community and left the children of the couple without their parents.
An active investigation
Nassau County Police Department spokesman Det. Lt. Scott Skrynecki said the probe is an "active investigation." He said that investigators have subpoenaed Zwang and Peishuan Fan's telephone records, been going through video surveillance recordings and interviewing neighbors, and that the inquiry has reached throughout New York State.
The department has also received tips, Skrynecki said.
"It’s an active investigation and we are utilizing all investigative tools and resources," Skrynecki said.
The older son is cooperating with the investigation, he said.
Skrynecki declined to say what, if any, clues police had found so far and whether investigators had reached any conclusions, citing the ongoing investigation.
Fan’s disappearance is listed in NamUs, a national database of missing people. It notes he was "last seen by son at their home in Old Brookville N.Y."
Fan, 48, a businessman, and Zwang, 44, a stay-at-home mother, moved to the United States from China in 2022 and initially lived in a high-rise apartment building in Jersey City, according to police, public records and Carman.
Former NYPD Deputy Insp. Stewart Loo, who worked undercover in New York City’s Asian community and on various task forces, said Nassau police are probably examining the couple's electronic footprints, any credit card and bank activities, as well as surveillance cameras and other monitoring systems such as vehicle GPS and license plate readers.
Loo, who retired from the NYPD in 2023 and currently runs a private investigations company that has cases in the city’s Asian community, said police should have searched the couple’s home, perhaps with a search warrant and inventoried the couple's personal possessions like passports to get a sense of whether they planned to leave or left suddenly.
A $3.8 million Maria Lane home
Zwang and her oldest son are listed as the owners of the $3.8 million Maria Lane home, on 2 acres, which was purchased in November 2023, according to real estate records. Online real estate records indicate the five-bedroom, five-bathroom home, with an inground swimming pool, was built in 2012. There was no evidence in the records of any mortgage on the property, indicating it was purchased with cash.
Fan has a construction excavation business in China, in an area south of the central-coastal city of Shanghai, which has a population of about 25 million people, Carman said. Some of the family’s relatives from China have come to New York to be with the children in light of the parents’ disappearance, Carman said. Child Protective Services has been visiting the children every three days to check on them, both Carman and Skrynecki said.
JuanJuan Zwang and her husband, Peishuan Fan, were last seen at their home on Maria Lane in Old Brookville. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Margherita Carbonara, a neighbor, said she had seen people going in and out of the home in the past year or so, but didn’t speak to them. She said she was praying for the couple's return.
Another neighbor, who lives across the road from the couple but didn't want to be identified, citing privacy reasons, said after the family moved in he went across the road to welcome the family to the neighborhood, approaching the woman, who was waiting with the younger child for the school bus one morning. The woman was pleasant but didn't speak English so there was no conversation, he said.
"It is a very strange situation," the man said about the disappearance.
Text messages from missing parents
On the day that the couple went missing, the older son received some snippets of text messages from the parents, but Carman said he didn't want to describe them for fear of interfering in the police investigation.
The older son was alerted that something was amiss when he was contacted by the neighborhood’s security force "that someone came over" to the house, another aspect of the disappearance that Carman declined to discuss fully.
There were no signs of a break-in or struggle at the home, or any other physical evidence pointing to a crime, Carman said. Security called police, he said.
Police have said the couple were last seen on March 30 at 10:30 p.m. They were reported missing just short of 24 hours later — at 10:15 p.m. on March 31, police said.
Zwang is described in a police missing person flyer as 5 feet tall, 130 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.
Fan is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, 135 pounds with brown eyes and black hair, the flyer said. The two may be together, police said.
Police are urging anyone with information about the pair to call the Missing Persons Squad at 516-573-7347 or call 911.
The couple’s sons are desperate to be reunited with their parents.
"Yiwei and his brother are heartbroken about their parents’ disappearance but are still hopeful that they will be found and OK," Carman said.
This is a modal window.
Nassau Juneteenth celebrations ... BTS: Everybody Loves Raymond ... What's up on LI ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV
This is a modal window.
Nassau Juneteenth celebrations ... BTS: Everybody Loves Raymond ... What's up on LI ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV
Most Popular
