Police have begun an active search for a Bedford Park woman they say has been missing since December. Investigators have intensified the search after the woman’s husband and child have also vanished.

Police have so far zeroed in on the small, two-story home the couple lived. On March 6, a cadre of investigators, officers and police dogs were combing through the home on East 198th Street off Jerome Avenue. It had been empty except for stacks of mail left unattended for months. In front of the home was a mound of dirt neighbors said was dug up by police.

The missing person, Mahfuza Rahman, a nurse at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, was reported missing by the hospital’s security department Dec. 8 after Rahman did not come to work. They had gone to the home that week and were told by her husband, whom the New York Daily News identified as Mohammad Chowdury, that Rahman abruptly left to take care of a family emergency in her native Bangladesh.

“The last time I seen the husband was December 15, and he told me, ‘watch my house because I got to go to my country,’” said John Garcia, a next-door neighbor who told the Norwood News he barely spoke to the family.

This came after police questioned Chowdury on the whereabouts of Rahman, who also told officers from the 52nd Precinct she needed to fly back to Bangladesh and would not come back until March. Rahman did not report to work or call to explain her absence. Chowdury, meantime, is not considered a suspect but for questioning.

Police spent the weekend excavating the front side of the home, with police dogs brought in for help. So far nothing has turned up.

Neighbors along the block knew little about the couple, who would be seen shopping at the local Associated Supermarket on the same block. There was nothing amiss, according to neighbors, who all said the family seemed unassuming and usually kept to themselves.

A police source says investigators have done a top-down search of the home, and haven’t found anything.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.