Odell Pamias, East Village Senior, Goes Missing From the Jacob Riis Houses

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Well-known Jacob Riis Houses resident and longtime tenant advocate Odell Pamias, 74, has gone missing from her apartment at 465 East 10 St., according to the the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

Pamias "was last seen at an unknown date and unknown time inside her residence," but was reported missing Monday, police said.

She still hadn't been located by Wednesday morning, police said.

The missing woman previously served as volunteer president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association — and before that, volunteer "tenant patrol supervisor," according to a 2010 feature on Pamias in the Pavement Pieces news site.

“Basically, I’m the medium between housing and tenants. Someone has to stand up for them,” Pamias told the site.

Among her other accomplishments at Jacob Riis: repeatedly organizing (and even using her own money to fund) Family Day, an annual festival with snacks and games and gifts for kids; and petitioning the city to install surveillance cameras on every one of the project's apartment buildings, "to keep out the undesirables.”

Pamias reportedly moved to Jacob Riis circa 1967, when rent was just $68 per month.

“I have been living here for 43 years," she said in 2010. "I was always involved when something happened. When there was another president … I would volunteer my service. I could not be doing nothing — I’m not like that. I have to be doing something.”

Police described Pamias, now 74 years old, as standing approximately 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing around 150 pounds. She has brown eyes and short black hair.

Have you seen Odell Pamias? Call the NYPD at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). For for Spanish, call 1-888-57-PISTA.

Photo courtesy of the NYPD