Where are Peishuan Fan and JuanJuan Zwang, the Old Brookville couple who disappeared a year ago?

The family of four sat down to dinner with a young friend in their spacious mansion on Maria Lane in Old Brookville on March 30, 2025. Nothing seemed amiss at the time, a lawyer for the family of Chinese immigrants recalled.

The next day, the couple, Peishuan Fan and his wife, JuanJuan Zwang, disappeared from Long Island and their two young sons' lives.

Family attorney John Carman said the children reported the parents missing to the Nassau County Police Department after they came home from a trip to the Catskills and could not find the couple anywhere.

The mystery of what happened to Fan and Zwang has only deepened. No trace of them has been found, and according to Nassau police Det. Tracey Cabey, the case is still considered an active investigation but has no new developments.

'Hard to disappear'

The children remain in immigration limbo, unable to return to the United States after a visit earlier this year to China, and the large home on Maria Lane stands unoccupied and may soon require court intervention to assure its upkeep.

"It is unbelievable that people just dropped off the face of the Earth," said an incredulous Judy Moran, a next-door neighbor.

"It is hard to disappear in this day and age," Carman agreed.

Carman said he finds it hard to understand that after a year there is "no meaningful exchange of information" from investigators about the case. The children have had no contact with the parents, Carman noted.

Moran remembered meeting Zwang on the street as she waited with her youngest child for a school bus to take him to a local middle school. Although her English wasn’t very good, Zwang made some limited and pleasant conversation, Moran recalled.

Numerous theories have circulated in the Asian community and on social media to explain the disappearances, including foul play.

Special business visa

The case also has caused problems for the couple’s sons, Yiwei Fan, 20, and his 12-year-old brother. According to Carman, the children returned to China over the summer to visit with other family members but are having trouble returning to the United States because of visa problems.

As Carman explained, Zwang was the original visa applicant under a special U.S. business visa program, meaning that she was allowed entry — along with her family members — because she was expecting to take part in a U.S.-based real estate venture.

The couple entered the United States in 2022 and for a time lived in a high-rise in Jersey City, records showed. But the venture never took off and because Zwang is missing, her children have been unable to return to the United States.

"That is the problem," Carman said. "It is not easy to get into the country right now."

It is unclear the kind of business Zwang and Fan were involved in. A check of business records found no listing for them. Years ago, Fan had been detained by authorities in China during an investigation but wasn’t charged, Carman said.

$3.8M Maria Lane address

Zwang and her son Yiwei were noted on Nassau County real estate records as having purchased the house at 7 Maria Lane in November 2023 for $3.8 million, paid with a bank check, previous owner Lawrence Cordelia told Newsday last year.

It also turned out that Peishuan Fan and Zwang had parked millions of dollars in bank accounts in New York that federal investigators said attracted the attention of two suspected thieves, Quiju Wu and Yinyu Wang, also known as Roy Wang. In September, Wu and Wang were charged with stealing close to $3 million from the missing couple's bank accounts.

Wu, 58, lived in Flushing and according to court records ran a trading company known as QJW Trading Inc., which the FBI said was used in the scheme. Earlier this month, Wu plead guilty to stealing $2.8 million from the missing couple's accounts and under a plea deal faces up to 19 months in prison.

Wang, who court records show lived in Roslyn, was originally arrested in California and set free with no bail — a move that surprised some lawyers following the case. Wang has since disappeared and is considered by federal investigators to be an absconder.

Attorneys for Wu and Wang didn’t return telephone messages seeking comment for this story.

Privately, federal officials have said it is not believed that the theft of the missing couple’s money has any connection to their disappearance. Carman sees the bank account thefts as a crime of opportunity.

A mansion sits empty

Over the past few months, the 6,000-square-foot Old Brookville mansion has been a source of dismay to residents in the neighborhood. The lawn remained uncut for months, with weeds and grass growing to a height of about 3 to 4 feet. Wildlife seemed to abound in the vegetation. Finally, in early September, the lawn was cut and the property landscaped.

During the recent snowstorms, the circular driveway was plowed and the driveway lights turned on, said a resident of Maria Lane who watches the empty house daily but did not want to be identified. Oil trucks have been seen delivering fuel to the property, but lights inside the mansion have not come on in recent weeks, the resident said.

Upkeep of such a large property takes money. Earlier in the year Carman noted that Yiwei Fan had access to certain banks accounts to pay expenses, presumably to keep up tax payments and keep the lights on. But Carman said that he will petition the Nassau County Surrogate Court in about a week for the appointment of a temporary receiver to care for the property.

While lawyers and local residents wonder about the fate of the couple, they know there may never be an answer to that question.

"Anything is possible," Carman said.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.