An East End farm owner and her 14-year-old daughter vanished in Manhattan last month after what relatives thought was going to be a short visit to see a few shows.
Cops are looking for Iona Costello, 51, a well-known equestrian from Greenport, and her daughter, Emily, a student at the posh Ross School in East Hampton.
They haven’t been seen since March 30, said Diana Malcolmson, the mother of Iona.
Relatives filed a missing-persons report when Emily didn’t return to school on Tuesday.
Police found their car in a parking garage on 42nd Street Wednesday night, and they appeared happy in surveillance video, Malcolmson said.
“They were giggling and laughing when they got out of the car,” she said. “They have suitcases, so they weren’t just going to a show in the city, which is what I had thought they were going to do. They have obviously gone somewhere.”
The Costellos are well known on the East End, where Iona owns a farm on the North Fork.
“She has animals, she has cows, she has horses … she was supposed to be back last Tuesday,” Malcolmson said. “I’m expecting her to come back.”
Stress may have prompted them to take off, Malcolmson added.
“It’s possibly they could be almost anywhere. Family and friends are very concerned. We’d feel a whole lot better if they’d reach out to family or friends to let them know they are okay,” said Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley.
