Skeletal remains of man missing for 4 years found in Queens, wife says

Editor's note: The above video aired in 2021.

COLLEGE POINT, Queens (PIX11) --- The skeletal remains found in a wooded area in Queens on Monday afternoon belong to a man who has been missing for four years, his wife told PIX11 News.

Cathi Albright said police told her the remains had been identified as her husband, Richard "Max" Albright, a 69-year-old nurse who disappeared during a walk on the morning of Oct. 14, 2021.   

“I'm shocked, but I'm also very glad. The not knowing is the hardest part. It’s been almost four years," she told PIX11 News.

The remains were found in a brush off a wooded area near 134-01 20th Ave. in College Point just before 4 p.m. Monday, according to the NYPD. Police and the medical examiner have not identified the remains as Richard Albright.

"The matter is under investigation, including work by our forensic anthropologists to make an identification," a spokesperson for the medical examiner's office said in a statement.

The wife believes Albright had a medical episode and does not suspect foul play. She said her husband's wallet with all its contents was found with the remains.

"I knew he had passed, but to have his remains and to know what happened is really what I want," the wife said.

Cathi Albright recalled her husband’s feet had been bothering him, so he went for his usual walk wearing slider slippers on the morning he disappeared. Surveillance from the lobby of their building on Junction Boulevard showed her husband shuffling a bit as he left the lobby. He never came back.

She launched an exhaustive search for weeks, including hiring a private investigator who charged $125 an hour. He learned that Richard Albright had taken a bus on Oct. 14 and later bought a 30-day MetroCard.

He worked as a registered nurse at the Hospital for Special Surgery after a brief stint in journalism. The couple was married for 23 years after meeting at a newspaper where they both worked.