Scant clues in suspicious disappearance of NE Phila. man, 69

YESTERDAY marked a week since Vito Maglio, 69, mysteriously disappeared after leaving a restaurant in his Northeast Philly neighborhood, and although investigators and relatives have searched feverishly, a police source said yesterday that no new clues have surfaced.

But things aren't looking good. On Thursday morning, Maglio's car was found - torched - near a field along a seedy stretch of Beechwood Street near Grange Avenue, in East Germantown. Investigators have said they found no indication that Maglio had been in the vehicle when it was burned.

"It doesn't get much more suspicious than that," one police source said of the burned car.

Maglio was last seen leaving Macaroni's Restaurant, on Old Bustleton Avenue near Welsh Road, in Bustleton, about 6 p.m. Dec. 14, according to a missing-person alert from police. He lives not far from the restaurant, on Gorman Street near Haldeman Avenue, also in Bustleton. A source familiar with the investigation said that a friend of Maglio's spotted him "on the move" in the neighborhood after leaving the restaurant last weekend, but that was the last time he was seen.

Maglio is described as 5 feet 5 and 150 pounds with short, gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black suit and black shoes, according to police.

Police and relatives and friends of Maglio's searched fruitlessly this weekend, a police source said. The possibility that Maglio, who suffers from diabetes, became disoriented and got lost during a diabetic episode had all but been ruled out yesterday, the source said.

Maglio's relatives did not return a phone call requesting comment yesterday.

Tipsters should call Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153.