Key facts
- Name: Doreen Ann Marfeo
- Born: ~1956, Massachusetts area
- Age at disappearance: 34
- Last seen: March 29, 1990
- Location: Johnston, Rhode Island (home)
- Height / build: ~5’4″, medium build, short brown hair, green eyes; chicken pox mark on front of calf, capped front tooth, strong Massachusetts accent
- Status: Still missing — Johnston Police cold case; foul play suspected
- Investigating agency: Johnston Police Department — (401) 231-4210
The empty house at 4 p.m.
On the afternoon of March 29, 1990, Stephen Marfeo came home from work to a house that felt wrong. His wife of twelve years, Doreen, was gone. He told police he’d come home at lunch, seen her, gone back to work — and returned at 4 p.m. to find her vanished. He said she’d packed a suitcase with a week’s worth of clothes and taken $600 from the safe.
What she hadn’t taken told a different story. Her 1984 Ford Tempo sat in the driveway. Her toothbrush and hair curlers were in the bathroom. Her two pet cats were in the house. Fifty thousand dollars in the couple’s joint bank accounts went untouched. There was no sign of a struggle, no note, no explanation. And Doreen had been supposed to call her mother that day. She never did.
Stephen didn’t report her missing for two and a half days.
Who Doreen was
Doreen Ann Marfeo was 34, a successful career woman — the purchasing manager at the Rhode Island School of Design — tidy, punctual, close to her mother Laura, whom she visited often. She and Stephen had met in 1976 and married two years later; by all outward signs, the outgoing couple seemed well matched.
But in October 1989, a crack had appeared: Doreen abruptly quit her RISD job, saying she needed a change. It startled everyone — her boss, her friends, her family. She wasn’t the type to walk away from work without a plan. Five months later, she was gone.
Behind the scenes, Stephen had grown convinced Doreen was cheating on him. He hired two private investigators to follow her. Police would later find no evidence of any affair — coworkers named in the rumors denied them, and RISD reported no issues. The suspicion, it seemed, lived mostly in Stephen’s head.
The letters
In June 1990, Johnston police received two typewritten letters. The first was an account of Doreen’s murder, written in flat, procedural detail:
Stephen had come home for lunch. Doreen was asleep on the couch. He “got hot under the collar,” strangled her, stuffed her shoes and handbag into a shopping bag and tied it around her waist, wrapped the body in a blanket secured with clothesline rope, drove across the Providence line two miles down a narrow dirt road, and deposited her body in the reeds of a pond. He returned to work with a flat-tire excuse for the long lunch.
The second letter accused Doreen of affairs with coworkers, naming names.
Both letters were typed on a typewriter traced to Stephen’s mother’s house. Police sent them to Dr. Murray Miron, a Syracuse University professor of psycholinguistics. His conclusion: “Stephen Marfeo is the person most likely to have authored these communications and to be the logical suspect in the murder of his wife.” Four more letters would arrive later — two typed, two handwritten. Stephen, confronted, hired an attorney and stopped cooperating.
No charges were ever filed. Doreen’s body was never found.
The ending Stephen wrote for himself
Nine years later, in July 1999, Stephen Marfeo told his family he was going on vacation to straighten out his life. When he returned, he shot his estranged girlfriend to death, seriously wounded her new boyfriend, then drove to a secluded reservoir in Connecticut and shot himself in the head. He left a suicide note for his mother that referred to his feelings of guilt about Doreen’s disappearance — but said nothing about what had happened to her.
He took the answer with him, if he ever had it.
Theories: what might have happened
Stephen killed her. This is the investigators’ conclusion and the weight of the evidence: the delayed report, the staged-looking “packed suitcase,” the letters (which an expert attributed to him), the pond disposal described in granular detail, and a suicide note steeped in guilt. What undercuts a charge: no body, no physical evidence, no witness — and the accused is dead, so the case can never be tried.
Voluntary disappearance. Stephen initially pushed this — the suitcase, the $600. But a woman who leaves her cats, her car, her toothbrush, and $50,000 behind, then never calls her mother or touches a bank account in 36 years, did not start a new life.
The letters were a frame-up. Briefly considered, quickly discarded: the typewriter belonged to Stephen’s own mother’s house.
Have information?
Contact the Johnston Police Department: (401) 231-4210. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- ~1956 — Doreen Ann Marfeo is born.
- 1978 — Marries Stephen Marfeo.
- October 1989 — Abruptly quits her purchasing-manager job at RISD.
- March 29, 1990 — Last seen. Stephen says he had lunch with her; she is gone by 4 p.m. She misses a planned call to her mother.
- March 31, 1990 — Stephen reports her missing, two and a half days later.
- June 1990 — Police receive two typewritten letters implicating Stephen; psycholinguist analysis points at him as author.
- 1990s — Case featured on Unsolved Mysteries; remains open.
- July 1999 — Stephen kills his estranged girlfriend, wounds her boyfriend, then kills himself in Connecticut; his note references guilt over Doreen.
- Today — Still missing. Doreen’s body has never been found.
FAQ
Is Doreen Marfeo still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Doreen Marfeo has been missing for more than 36 years. Her body has never been found and the Johnston Police case remains open.
Was Doreen Marfeo’s husband charged?
No. Stephen Marfeo was the prime suspect — a psycholinguistics expert concluded he likely authored anonymous letters describing her murder — but he was never charged. He died by suicide in 1999 after killing his estranged girlfriend.
What did the letters say?
The June 1990 letters, typed on a typewriter from Stephen’s mother’s house, described Stephen strangling Doreen during lunch, wrapping her body in a blanket, and dumping it in a Providence pond. A second letter falsely accused Doreen of affairs with coworkers.
Did Doreen Marfeo run away?
Investigators don’t believe so. She left her car, cats, toiletries, and $50,000 in joint accounts behind, and never contacted her close-knit family again.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information should contact the Johnston Police Department at (401) 231-4210.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Johnston Police Department; Dr. Murray Miron, Syracuse University psycholinguistics analysis (via case coverage).
- News: Crimesolverscentral.com, “Doreen Marfeo Missing Person Case” (updated 2026).
- Reference: Unsolved Mysteries Wiki, “Doreen Marfeo”; International Missing Persons Wiki.
- Media: Unsolved Mysteries; Detective Perspective, Ep. 2, “MISSING: Doreen Marfeo”; Murder, She Told podcast.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.