Cipriani Chef Reported Missing, Police Seek Help Finding Him
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Police are looking for help finding a man reported missing after last being seen in the Elmhurst section of Queens.
The NYPD is looking for 33-year-old Andrea Zamperoni, described as 5-foot, 11-inches tall and weighing 200 pounds.
Zamperoni, a chef at Cipriani Dolci in Grand Central, was last seen at his house on 74th Street around noon on Aug. 19.
"He's always the first one to call if he's a minute late," sous chef Manuel Ignacio Albo said.
"Very knowledgeable very kind very nice that's what's so strange about this particular case is he's not a guy that goes out or parties he's a hard worker," Fernando Dallorso, the Cipriani manager added.
Zamperoni's manager says the 33-year-old Italian native left the restaurant around 9 p.m. Saturday and was supposed to be back at work Monday afternoon.
"Phone was going to voicemail… by the time he didn't show up to work at one in the afternoon we really started to worry."
He says the chef is not married, doesn't have children, and all of his family lives in Europe.
"He talks to his mom every day in Italy. All of a sudden his mom calls me Monday asking where her son is," Ignacio Albo said.
"His passport is still in his apartment and he's here on a work visa that's the only documentation he has. So how can he be going anywhere without his passport?"
His coworkers say Zamperoni has worked in Cipriani restaurants for more than a decade and is highly respected in the company.
"Everyone in the company is freaking out we're talking about a globally run company. We have thousands of people right now freaking out for Andrea his family in Europe is freaking out," Ignacio Albo added.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74682), logging onto the Crime stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enterings TIP577.
