Missing
Bruce Blackwood
Blackwood, approximately 2006; Luis Perez, approximately 2015
Date and time person was reported missing : 03/04/2006
Missing location (approx) :
Queens, New York
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
Black
Age at the time of disappearance: 55 years old
Height / Weight : 6'3, 200 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American male. Gray hair, hazel eyes. Blackwood may have a mustache.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Blackwood was last seen in the vicinity of 194th Street in the New York City borough of Queens at 3:00 p.m. on March 4, 2006. He called in sick that day only a few minutes before he was due to arrive at work, which is uncharacteristic of him. That same day, the police found his Cadillac SRX parked in front of a building he owned in the Bushwick area of the borough of Brooklyn. He has never been heard from again.
Three and a half months after Blackwood's disappearance, authorities charged Luis Perez and another suspect with cashing $7,700 worth of checks on Blackwood's account. Blackwood had hired Perez to help remodel one of his apartment buildings on Hancock Street and let him live in another building while he was working.
A few days before Blackwood disappeared, Perez went to his home and angrily demanded more money for his work. Their argument got so loud that Blackwood's neighbors called the police.
Perez was the last person to see Blackwood; Blackwood had gone to confront him about the checks thefts. Perez said Blackwood gave him the keys to his Cadillac, then got into a black car with a man known only as "Mike." Blackwood's family doesn't believe he would have done this, however, especially since Perez did not have driver's license.
Perez was convicted of the check thefts and served 25 months in prison. In 2011, he was charged with Blackwood's murder. A photo of him is posted with this case summary. In recorded phone calls to his daughter, Perez said he'd killed Blackwood by breaking his neck inside a residence in the 900 block of Hancock Street, then dismembered his body with a saw and a machete. He was convicted in September 2015 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
As well as owning several apartment buildings, Blackwood worked with the Off-Track Betting Corporation as a restaurant supervisor at O'Neill's Restaurant in Maspeth, Queens; he'd held the position since 2004. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
New York Police Department
212-473-2042
September 2021 updates and sources
NY 1
New York Police Department
The New York Daily News
The New York Post
October 12, 2004. August 24, 2017; Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
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