Andre Rand, The Killer Who Terrorized Staten Island

Andre Rand was born Frank Rushan on March 11th, 1944, in Manhattan, New York. He is considered to be the most notorious criminal that Staten Island has ever known.

His story fortunately concluded with a life sentence, but the kidnapper and suspected child serial killer managed to leave enough tragedy behind him that the tale isn't particularly heartening, at all.

Kids of Staten Island during this time were told spooky stories of a boogeyman-esque figure that had a hook for a hand. He would drag children from their homes and carry them to an abandoned hospital.

This entity soon was dubbed Cropsey and Andre Rand soon embodied the name, he was committing strikingly similar acts as he terrorized the Staten Island community.

His Story

Andre Rand worked at Staten Island's Willowbrook State School as a custodian in the 1960s. The institution for children with disabilities was funded by New York State, it was operational and was running smoothly, at least, that is how it appeared. That was until officials observed the questionable conditions and unorthodox medical practices.

When the school was closed, Andre had to find another job. Unfortunately, he spent his time on different activities. Between the school's closure in the early 70s, several girls in the area went missing. The first was five-year-old Alice Pereira.

On July 10th, 1972, the girl seemed to vanish into thin air while she played in her neighborhood, just a few miles southeast of Willowbrook. At this point, Andre already served 10 months in prison, for the abduction of several children.

He was never convicted of kidnapping or abduction, since none of the kids were harmed, but he served time for unlawful imprisonment. Alice Pereira went missing when Andre was released, and authorities considered him a prime suspect in her disappearance.

There wasn't enough evidence to convict him, however, and the girl was never seen again.

The Victims

Holly Ann Hughes went missing on July 15th, 1981 she was seven-years-old. Her parents filed a missing persons report, and several witnesses claimed that they saw the girl with Andre shortly before she disappeared. But, there was still no actual evidence so no arrest was made.

Two years later, Andre was a primary suspect again when 11-year-old Tiahease Jackson went missing. In 1984, 21-year-old Hank Gafforio vanished. These incidents left the town in terror, since nobody was apprehended and pointed out as the cause of the disappearances.

Three years later, the police finally caught a break in the investigation. Jennifer Schweiger, a 12-year-old girl that was born with down syndrome was reported missing on July 9th, 1987. The search for her lasted 35 days and ended in trauma.

Jennifer was found dead in a shallow grave, that grave was located on the former property of the Willowbrook State School.

"When we dug it up and found a little foot there," said Bob Devine, a volunteer on the search committee, "It's something that's going to stick with you the rest of your life."

Andre was already arrested in connection with Jennifer's kidnapping before her body was found. He lied to reporters and claimed that he never met the girl, this contradicted the statements by numerous witnesses and he then changed his entire story once his defense lawyer heard about the individual accounts.

His Sentencing

Once Schweiger's body was found, Andre was charged with her murder and kidnapping. The jury couldn't come up with a verdict to the murder charge, so they convicted him of first-degree kidnapping in 1988.

There wasn't enough evidence at first, but Andre was convicted of Hughes' kidnapping in 2004, two decades after she went missing. Since there is no statute of limitations in New York for first-degree kidnapping, it was still possible to charge him.

Andre was given an additional 25-years-to-life sentence on top of the time he was already serving. He still sits behind bars to this day for his kidnappings of Holly Ann Hughes and Jennifer Schweiger and isn't eligible for parole until 2037, he will be 93 years old, if he lives to see that day.

Andre wrote and sent numerous letters to The Advance while behind bars, they were neatly written Mother's Day letters and directed to "all the ladies on Staten Island who supported 'prosecutorial vindictiveness' against an innocent person!"

"Should I become a millionaire, it would be my true nature to grant all of you with each, an envelope full of seeds, to plant and cultivate a rosebush that produces roses every season, as a token of my heartfelt forgiveness (year after year), rather than bouquets of rosebuds which blossoms and shortly dies-out."

Some of Rand's latest writings were nearly a decade after his last correspondence with the paper. In 2001, he sent them some mail, some of the mail dated back to 1994. These letters were just as precisely written and drafted so neatly that it appeared as if a ruler had lent him a hand.

The letters had thorough arguments against the nuclear arms race, nostalgic memories of racing hot rods as a kid, and emotional pleas to have a pen-pal of sorts with an old man for "friendship."

Included also was a sketch of a small plane and its interior control panel.

Cropsey

Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio's 2009 Documentary, Cropsey, explored Andre Rand's disturbing life. The film won the Gran Jury Prize for its engrossing narrative and deft production.

Their approach was to posit to an audience whether or not the local urban legend had any actual, warranted ties to Andre Rand's life. And for some of the people who lived in Staten Island and experienced the years first hand and those who were involved in finding the missing children, the boogeyman figure wasn't even close to portraying Andre's macabre psyche.

"I call him the Hannibal Lecter of Staten Island," is how Donna Dutugno describes Andre. She is the president of Friends of Jennifer for Missing Children, a volunteer group that to this day still searches the 385 acres of Willowbrook twice a year to find other missing girls.

"He terrified a whole community. He still haunts us."