Lorraine Pacifico

A Fun Summer

In the summer of 1980, Lorraine Ann Pacifico, age 10, was excited to be in the middle of her summer break from school. She was an avid swimmer, loved basketball, and spent hours riding her bike and playing hop-scotch with her many friends. She also loved animals and spent countless hours with her dog “Snoopy” and her cat “Bamboo.”

Lorraine stood four feet ten inches tall, had long brown hair, hazel eyes and braces on her teeth. She was the only daughter of Peter Sr. and Ann Pacifico, and Lorraine was her parents’ pride and joy. She was especially close to her mother, and the running joke was Lorraine’s mother would tell her she was her favorite daughter and Lorraine would respond “I’m your only daughter.” Lorraine also looked up to her two big brothers, Peter Jr., age 21, and Anthony, age 18, and both of them were very protective of their little sister.

On July 7, 1980, Lorraine’s mother called the house and told Lorraine she was heading home from her job at The New York Stock Exchange. Lorraine told her mother she was going to finish her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then go out to play with friends. Moments later, Lorraine headed out the door, and as she left, her brother Anthony told her to “be careful.” She would never be seen alive again.

A Disappearance Turns To Tragedy

Lorraine’s mother arrived home from work and started preparing dinner. When Lorraine did not return home to eat with her family, Mrs. Pacifico searched the neighborhood, however she could not find Lorraine. By 8 p.m., Mrs. Pacifico became extremely worried and called police. Authorities knew immediately something was very wrong and a massive search began to find Lorraine. By the next day, police had set up a temporary command post at the Pacifico home, and helicopters began searching the area. The were no witnesses, no leads, and no motive for Lorraine’s disappearance.

Three days later, on July 10, 1980, three auxiliary policeman found Lorraine Pacifico. Her beaten and mutilated body was found beneath a Staten Island Rapid Transit Overpass. Her body was found on a ledge 5 feet below street level. Her blue jumpsuit was pulled down to below her waist.

The coroner determined Lorraine had suffered six fractures of the skull after being struck multiple times in the head with a rock the size of a loaf of bread. The murderer also used a sharp object to slash Lorraine three times from her chest to below her waist. While there was no physical evidence of sexual assault, police found a pubic hair on her body. Lorraine’s corpse was badly decayed and had been eaten by maggots. The coroner determined she had been killed three days earlier, the day she went missing. Police then began the hunt for a killer.

An Arrest And A Confession

As police searched for the murderer, Lorraine’s older brother Pete kept hounding them about an acquaintance named Keith Vischio. Pete told police that while on his way to a rock concert at Central Park, he saw the 20-year-old Vischio loitering on the platform of the train station. He said he saw Vischio put his arm around a girl he did not know, and when she pushed Vischio’s arm away, he then watched Vischio follow two girls off the platform. Pete said the next day, while searching for his sister, he spotted Vischio on the street and stopped to talk to him. Pete said Vischio kept rubbing his arms and neck nervously and he had scratch marks on his arms. On July 18, 1980, Keith Vischio was arrested and became the prime suspect in murder and attempted sexual assault of Lorraine Pacifico.

Almost immediately after his arrest, Vischio admitted to police that he had killed Lorraine. He made four confessions both verbally and in writing. According to Vischio, he left home the morning of July 7, 1980, and quit his job as a clerk at a brokerage firm. He then began drinking and took two Quaaludes. He hung out with friends and, at one point, briefly spoke to Lorraine’s brother Pete. At 1 p.m., he tried to pick up a high school girl, however she rejected his advances and got on a bus. Vischio then began harassing two other girls, who ran into the Guyon Market. The store manager chased Vischio away.

At 5 p.m., Vischio said, he met Lorraine on the train station platform and spoke with her for five minutes. He then told Lorraine to follow him to an area “under the street.” Realizing something was wrong Lorraine got scared and tried to leave. Vischio then grabbed her by the arm and when she screamed “let me go,” he pulled her to the ground. Authorities believe, at this point, Vischio was attempting to sexually assault Lorraine. When she resisted, Vischio hit her head “on the floor.” According to Vischio, “She was alive but her head was bleeding. The next thing I knew, I was hitting her in the head with a rock.” He claimed he hit little Lorraine in the head twenty times. Vischio then grabbed a beer bottle from the ground and hit Lorraine in the head. He pulled her jumpsuit down to her waist, grabbed a pipe from the ground, and cut her three times from her chest to below her waist. When he realized Lorraine was dead, Vischio threw the bloody pipe in some weeds and ran home. After throwing his bloody pants in the garbage, he took a nap. The next day, he hung out with his friends and acted like nothing had happened.

Overwhelming Evidence And A Murder Plea

In addition to Vischio’s confession, authorities also had solid physical evidence linking Vischio to the crime. His palm print was found on the bottom of the broken beer bottle, and one of his bloody fingerprints was found on the side of the bottle. They also determined the pubic hair found on Lorraine was “comparable” to samples taken for Vischio. The manager at the Guyon Market identified Vischio as the man she chased away from two girls shortly before Lorraine’s murder.

Facing overwhelming evidence, Vischio agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder. In exchange for his plea, the attempted sexual abuse charge was dropped. The judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Norman Felig, sentenced Vischio from 20 years to Life in prison. Vischio was emotionless throughout his sentencing hearing.

At the time of Vischio’s conviction, New York law stated that in order to be adjudicated a sex offender, a defendant must have been convicted of a sex crime. Since the attempted sexual assault charge was dropped, Vischio was not labeled a sexual offender. Thus, he cannot be listed on any sex offender registry and will have no sex offender reporting requirements. This means he can live anywhere, and no one in the community will be notified of his criminal history.

A Lack of Rehabilitation and Responsibility

While Vischio has behaved in prison during the past several years, there is still clear evidence that he refuses to take responsibility for his actions and that he is not determined to have rehabilitated himself. Parole records indicate that, as of 2010, Vischio continued to refuse to take any sex offender classes. Vischio told the parole board members, “I don’t remember” when they asked him questions about the sexual nature of his crime. Vischio also stated he had no ongoing mental health treatment.

The parole board concluded “due to the bizarre and violent nature” of the crime, “the vulnerability” of Lorraine, and the “lack of sex offender program completion” that Vischio’s parole be denied. They concluded, “There is a reasonable probability” that Vischio “would not live and remain at liberty without violating the law.”

The Aftermath: A Mother’s Pain

(written by Ann Pacifico, Lorraine’s Mom)

“To say Lorraine is missed is not enough. She was and still is loved by me and her brothers. It has been 34 years, and the pain is still there as if it was yesterday. To me, she will always be 10 years old. She never had a chance to grow up or marry, because someone else who had no right to do what he did decided otherwise.”

“I have masses said for her every year for her birthday, and each year, on the day she died, I put flowers on her grave. That is all I can do for my daughter now. I will never hear her laugh again, smile or just simply hug and kiss me like she did. She used to call me ‘Silly Mommy.’ We did things together. We played games together. Her brother taught her how to play chess. We sat together at night on the couch watching TV together, her in my arms and resting, safe and secure, but that day, I could not help her anymore”

No Parole

Keith Vischio is the perfect example of the most dangerous kind of sexual predator. After unsuccessfully stalking three young girls, Vischio lured 10-year-old Lorraine Pacifico to a secluded area and attempted to sexually assault her. When she resisted, he hit her in the head 20 times with a rock and mutilated her body. He then went home and acted like nothing had happened until the day he was arrested for Lorraine’s murder. Although he has spent over 30 years in prison, he still refuses to take responsibility for his actions.

Releasing Keith Vischio would be a complete injustice to Lorraine Pacifico and her family. It would also demean his cruelty to Lorraine. In addition, placing Vischio back on the streets would create a profound and imminent risk to the community, especially to young girls. Based on the horrific and brutal nature of his crimes, his refusal to take responsibility for his actions, and the fact Lorraine Pacifico is not alive as a direct result of his actions, we believe Keith Vischio should receive the maximum continuance of two years at his current parole hearing and all subsequent hearings until he dies in prison.