The Vanishing of Susan Walsh: When Investigative Journalism Meets Danger
Tenth and final in our series "Missing American Authors"
On a sweltering July afternoon in 1996, Susan Walsh stepped out of her Nutley, New Jersey, apartment to make a phone call and never returned. The 36-year-old journalist and single mother had told her estranged husband, Mark, that she'd be back in half an hour, leaving behind her wallet, pager, and, most importantly, her 11-year-old son, David (The Charley Project, 2015). What should have been a simple errand became one of journalism's most perplexing disappearances. This case would blur the lines between investigative reporting and the dangerous underworlds it sought to expose.
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| Artistic Interpretation of Susan Walsh | BookBrains Press |
A Life Between Two Worlds
Susan Walsh's story reads like a modern American tragedy, caught between aspiration and survival, between the pursuit of serious journalism and the economic realities that forced her into the margins of society. Born Susan Young in 1960, she grew up in a middle-class family in New Jersey with dreams of becoming a poet (Beckett 1996). Her mother had taken her to Women's Liberation marches, instilling in her a sense of justice and the power of speaking truth to power.
But Walsh's path to journalism was far from conventional. After graduating from William Paterson College in 1984 with degrees in English and Communications, she found herself struggling financially and battling substance abuse. To pay for her education and later to support her young son, Walsh worked as an exotic dancer—a decision that would both inform her later journalism and potentially seal her fate (Jolly 2018).
"When I first started stripping," Walsh wrote in her contribution to the book Red Light: Inside The Sex Industry, "I thought I was something really special... I practiced slick moves in the mirror... The men's smiles were my payment: the dollar bills they stuffed between my breasts were just extras" (Beckett 1996). This insider's perspective would prove invaluable to her reporting, but it also trapped her in a cycle where she needed to continue dancing to fund her journalistic ambitions.
Breaking Into Journalism
Walsh's big break came when she landed an internship at The Village Voice, New York's prestigious alternative weekly newspaper. Her mentor, James Ridgeway, recognized her unique qualifications for covering stories about the sex industry—she had lived it from the inside. "She certainly knew the sex business like nobody I ever met when I was doing this book and I certainly met quite a few people," Ridgeway recalled (Tolan 1997).
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| Artistic Interpretation of Suan in the Newsroom |
Walsh threw herself into her work with the dedication of someone who saw journalism as her ticket to a different life. She would bring her son David to the Village Voice offices, where he'd do his homework while she pursued stories. Her colleagues remember her as intelligent, driven, and fiercely protective of her son (Tolan 1997).
The Russian Mob Investigation
Walsh's first major scoop involved Russian organized crime figures allegedly forcing young immigrant women to work in New Jersey strip clubs. The article, which appeared in The Village Voice, exposed a network of exploitation and human trafficking that had previously operated in the shadows. The piece earned critical acclaim and established Walsh as a serious investigative journalist (Hamilton 2006).
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However, success came with a price. After the article's publication, Walsh began receiving threats. She told friends and family that she believed there were contracts out on her life. Her father, Floyd Merchant, later recalled: "She was struggling... Her mood was reflecting the stress she was under" (Beckett 1996). The once-confident young woman was becoming increasingly paranoid and fearful.
Into the Vampire Underground
Walsh's next assignment would prove even more dangerous. Acting on a tip from Ridgeway about blood going missing from New York hospitals, Walsh began investigating the city's underground vampire subculture. What she discovered was far stranger than anyone anticipated.
Katherine Ramsland, who extensively researched Walsh's disappearance for her book Piercing the Darkness, describes how Walsh "had been talking with some vampire 'squatters' in an East Village park for the article that was subsequently rejected (allegedly for being too sympathetic to the vampires)" (Ramsland 1999, 8).
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Walsh immersed herself completely in this world, attending vampire gatherings, interviewing self-proclaimed blood-drinkers, and even dating a man who claimed to be a vampire. She discovered people who had filed their teeth into fangs, slept in coffins, and engaged in blood-drinking rituals. Some operated "feeding circles" where consenting adults would allow others to drink their blood (Ramsland 1999, 216).
But Walsh's reporting style—getting too close to her subjects—began to work against her. As Ridgeway noted, "She got totally absorbed with the vampire thing, the theories, the energy flows. The article she wrote wasn't very astute" (The Village Voice rejected the piece for lack of objectivity) (Beckett 1996).
Signs of Trouble
By 1996, the stress of Walsh's double life was taking its toll. After 11 years of sobriety, she had begun drinking again and was taking the anti-anxiety medication Xanax recreationally. Her health was deteriorating—she suffered from emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and an ulcer. She had been hospitalized twice in the weeks before her disappearance (Tolan 1997).
Walsh's behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. She spoke frequently about being stalked, though she wouldn't identify her alleged stalker. Her pager would go off constantly, sometimes every few minutes, creating an atmosphere of constant tension. During a documentary interview just two days before her disappearance, her pager rang and she joked, "Oh, that must be my stalker." When pressed, she became serious: "No, I do have a stalker" (Jolly 2018).
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The Day She Vanished
July 16, 1996, started as an ordinary Tuesday in Nutley. Walsh woke up in her cramped apartment above a bar on Washington Avenue, where she could see the pink neon sign of the Fanta-Zee's Go-Go Lounge from her window. Around noon, she told Mark she needed to run errands and make a phone call from the public payphones half a block away. She left behind everything that mattered to her—her wallet, her pager, her keys, and most importantly, her son (The Charley Project 2015).
Several people saw her walking toward the payphones, past the garage and bus depot, under the telegraph poles, and over the crossroads. But no one saw her make the call. No one saw what happened next. She simply vanished into the summer heat, leaving behind only questions and a mystery that persists nearly three decades later (Beckett 1996).
The Investigation and Theories
The Nutley Police Department's initial response was disappointingly slow. When concerned friends called about Walsh's disappearance, one detective reportedly said, "Well, she's, you know, a dancer. She's probably out, you know, partying" (Tolan 1997). It took pressure from Walsh's journalism colleagues to get police to take the case seriously.
When investigators finally began their work, they found one intriguing clue: the July page had been torn from Walsh's calendar and was never found. "To me, that's significant," Detective Lieutenant Steven Rogers said. "Did she have something planned that someone didn't want us to see?" (Jolly 2018).
Several theories emerged about Walsh's fate:
The Russian Mob Theory: Some believed Walsh's exposé of Russian organized crime had marked her for death. However, police found no concrete evidence linking her disappearance to her earlier reporting.
The Vampire Theory: Media attention focused on Walsh's investigation into vampire subculture, with some suggesting she had been murdered by the very people she was investigating. However, as Ramsland notes in her research, "The police investigated and cleared the vampire community on the Lower East Side" (Ramsland 1999, 6).
The Stalker Theory: Walsh had repeatedly mentioned being stalked in the weeks before her disappearance. Police twice questioned a suspect but determined he had nothing to do with her vanishing.
Voluntary Disappearance: Some, including police, theorized that Walsh had deliberately disappeared, perhaps fearing for her safety or suffering a mental health crisis.
Accidental Death/Overdose: Given Walsh's deteriorating mental and physical health, some friends believe she may have overdosed, and whoever was with her panicked and disposed of the body.
The Search Continues
Despite extensive investigation, searches, and media attention—including coverage on Unsolved Mysteries—no trace of Susan Walsh has ever been found. Her case generated hundreds of hours of police work and filled three loose-leaf binders with information, but no concrete answers (Tolan 1997).
The case took on a life of its own in popular culture. Katherine Ramsland's investigation, published in Piercing the Darkness, brought national attention to Walsh's story. The book detailed Ramsland's own journey into vampire subculture as she tried to understand what had happened to Walsh. Television documentaries, newspaper articles, and true crime podcasts have all examined the case, but the mystery remains unsolved.
In 2013, Walsh's father, Floyd Merchant, died without ever learning what happened to his daughter. Her son David, now an adult, continues to hope for answers (Jolly 2018).
A Legacy of Questions
Susan Walsh's disappearance raises troubling questions about the dangers faced by investigative journalists. Her story highlights the precarious position of freelance reporters, who often must fund their serious journalism through alternative means, sometimes putting themselves at risk in the process.
Walsh's case also highlights the intersection of journalism and personal safety. In pursuing stories about organized crime and underground subcultures, she may have crossed lines that proved fatal. Her determination to get inside her stories—a strength that made her reporting authentic—may have ultimately led to her downfall.
The fact that Walsh worked as an exotic dancer initially led some to dismiss her disappearance as unimportant. As one character in James Ridgeway's book noted: "The girls you don't see any more, it's because these girls found something out or were let in on it... Then if that girl wants to turn around and get out, they'll get rid of her" (Beckett 1996).
Twenty-seven years later, Susan Walsh remains missing, her fate unknown. Her story serves as a stark reminder of the risks taken by journalists who venture into the shadows to expose truths that powerful people prefer to keep hidden. Whether she was murdered by the subjects of her investigations, fell victim to her own demons, or disappeared deliberately to escape threats, Susan Walsh paid a high price for her pursuit of truth.
Her case remains officially open, a testament to both the persistence of those who loved her and the enduring mystery of what happened on that sweltering July day when a journalist simply walked away and never returned.
💬 Join the Conversation
What do you think happened to Susan Walsh? Do you believe her investigative work into organized crime or vampire subculture led to her disappearance, or do you think her personal struggles played a larger role?
How do you think the media and law enforcement's initial dismissive attitude toward Walsh's disappearance, because of her work as an exotic dancer, affected the investigation?
Join us in our next post as we explore the mysterious disappearance of Butch Cassidy
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📚 For Further Reading
Beckett, Andy. "Missing, Presumed Undead." The Independent, August 31, 1996, sec. Culture. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/missing-presumed-undead-1361187.html.
Hamilton, Brad. "'96 Stripper Vanish Clue." New York Post, July 16, 2006. https://nypost.com/2006/07/16/96-stripper-vanish-clue/.
Jolly, Nathan. "Woman Drops Massive Bombshell, Then Disappears." The New Zealand Herald, October 17, 2018, sec. World. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/the-journalist-who-took-on-a-strip-club-ring-then-disappeared/43AJO6EULSM6YIRQCCWIPAQOU4/.
Ramsland, Katherine M. Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today. New York: HarperPaperbacks, 1999.
The Charley Project. "Susan Walsh," March 21, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150321204722/http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/walsh_susan.html.
Unsolved Mysteries. "Desperately Seeking Susan." Unsolved Mysteries (blog), January 26, 2021. https://unsolved.com/desperately-seeking-susan/.
Walsh, Susan. Three Women and the Sex Industry. Interview by Sandy Tolan. Radio Interview, February 28, 1997. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/55/three-women-and-the-sex-industry.
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