A set of incomplete skeletal remains found in Queens late Monday afternoon is believed to belong to a nurse who went missing in 2021, his grieving wife said.
Richard “Max” Albright, a 69-year-old nurse at the Hospital for Special Surgery, was last seen leaving his home in Jackson Heights on Oct. 14, 2021.
His wife, Cathy Albright, said that police told her the remains recovered near a strip mall in College Point were positively linked to her husband.
A set of incomplete skeletal remains found in Queens late Monday afternoon is believed to belong to Richard “Max” Albright, a 69-year-old nurse at the Hospital for Special Surgery. NYPD
“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 NYPD and medical examiner have not officially confirmed any identity linked to the recovered human skull, hip and leg bones and said the matter is still under investigation.
Cathy, though, is holding on to hope that the grueling saga of grieving the unknown will come to a close soon.
“I knew he had passed, but to have his remains and to know what happened is really what I want,” she told the outlet.
Cathy said that police found a wallet near the remains that belonged to Richard.
She firmly believes that there was no foul play and that her husband had a medical episode after leaving their home.
Albright was last seen leaving his home in Jackson Heights on Oct. 14, 2021. Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock
Richard was on blood thinners after undergoing three open heart surgeries shortly before his disappearance, Cathy told the outlet in 2021.
She said that the day Richard left their home for the final time, he’d been complaining about pain in his feet and resorted to shuffling around in a pair of slider slippers.
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Cathy explored every route she could while trying to track down her husband, including hiring a private detective who learned that Richard purchased a 30-day Metro card and rode a public bus the day he disappeared.
The pair were happily married for 23 years.
“I knew he had passed, but to have his remains and to know what happened is really what I want,” his heartbroken wife, Cathy, said. Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock
They originally met when they both worked at a newspaper in Texas and moved to New York City after getting hitched.
After moving, Richard made the career switch to nursing and held the same position at the Hospital for Special Surgery for 16 years.
Richard was last seen wearing khaki pants, a red shirt and a pair of slippers.