Long Island widow who went missing in Manhattan speaks out

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Iona Costello, 51, and daughter Emily went missing on March 30
Recognized by someone at the New York hotel they were staying in on Sunday
NYPD officers questioned them and say the case is now closed
Iona called her mother, Diana Malcolmson, at 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning to tell her she was ok
'She hadn't listened to the news. She didn't know she was causing all this trouble,' said Malcolmson said

By Ted Thornhill and Dan Bates for MailOnline

Published: 15:20 EST, 20 April 2015 | Updated: 15:29 EST, 20 April 2015

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The Long Island mother and daughter found safe and well in New York City's Upper West Side neighbourhood after going missing last month say they had no idea that people were looking for them.

Iona Costello, 51, and daughter Emily, 14, were recognized by the front desk manager of the hotel they were staying at on Sunday, it was reported.

They were found at 3am by NYPD officers and are in good health, officials said.

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Iona Costello, 51, and daughter Emily were visiting Manhattan when they disappeared. They have now been found safe and well

Iona Costello's husband George, the co-owner of Costello Marine in Greenport, died from a heart attack in 2012

Police questioned mother and daughter and now consider the case closed after releasing them.

Iona called her mother at 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning to tell her she was ok.

'I'm thankful my daughter is safe. She's had a lot of pressure,' Iona's mother, Diana Malcolmson, told the New York Daily News. 'She just wanted to get away.'

Iona claimed she had no idea friends and family members were worried about her sudden disappearance, her mother said.

'She hadn't listened to the news. She didn't know she was causing all this trouble,' Malcolmson said.

Iona is in the midst of a nasty battle over the will of her husband, George Costello Sr., 63, who died of a heart attack as he was working on a Southampton barge on Dec. 28, 2012.

News of Iona's reappearance comes after more details emerged about the colorful background of her late husband's family, who were in dispute with her over the contents of Mr Costello's will.

It was revealed that the mother's stepson has a long criminal record and was jailed again just days after she disappeared, a report suggests.

Missing Long Island widow and daughter found safe in NYC

George Costello Jr is currently in jail in Florida on apparently unrelated charges and has been described by relatives as a 'mixed-up' kid.'

British-born Mrs Costello and Emily were visiting Manhattan when they went missing on March 30 near their home in the the wealthy seaside village of Greenport.

Their car was found in a parking garage on 42nd street in Manhattan, but the pair, who often went into the city for theater and art museums, left no other trace of their whereabouts.

Iona's husband died in 2012 from a heart attack, and she is believed to have been 'under a lot of stress' because of a legal battle with four of his five adult children from previous marriages.

The New York Daily News reported Iona's stepson Costello Jr, 45, was visiting Hamptons Bay, New York, at the time, and relatives said he has never got on with the family.

He has a long history of drug arrests and is currently in Palm Beach Detention Center following an arrest for a 'domestic dispute' when he returned to Florida.

His fiance, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Daily News it was a 'weird coincidence', but insists she was with him the whole time.

Speaking from the prison, he told the newspaper he was visiting his Hampton Bay home at the time and flew home on April 1, two days after the pair went missing.

George Jr, who has at least 10 arrests to his name, according to court records, says he didn't have a close relationship with Iona.

He said the last time the pair spoke was at his father and her husband's funeral.

Police reportedly told Iona's mother there is surveillance video of them leaving a parking garage laughing

Iona's brother-in-law John Costello (right), is facing vehicular manslaughter charges after he allegedly drove his pickup truck into oncoming traffic last December in Greenport, New York. Costello's stepson, George Costello Jr (left), 45, has a long history of drug arrests (mugshot from April)

Mother and daughter vanish during trip to New York City

'She's a hardworking lady who loves her horses and takes care of them really well. She's a good mother,' he told the Daily News.

Iona's mother, Diana Malcomson, had also insisted George Jr wouldn't want to harm the pair, but said he was a 'mixed-up kid'.

Her brother-in-law is also facing a criminal case. John Costello is facing vehicular manslaughter charges after he allegedly drove his pickup truck into oncoming traffic last December in Greenport, New York.

They were reported missing by relatives of the 'quiet Irish family', who own a horse farm on Long Island's North Fork.

Iona, who was her late husband George's third wife and inherited his entire estate along with her daughter, had been 'under a lot of stress' because of a legal battle with four of his five adult children from previous marriages.

'She can't sell anything. She can't do anything because everything is in court,' an unidentified relative told the New York Daily News.

'I don't know if she's having a nervous breakdown. I don't know if somebody has kidnapped them,' the unidentified family member said of the Costellos' long absence from their home and farm.

Costello's adult children have argued that the will granting the estate to Iona was improperly executed, according to Novick Law Group.

A Long Island court sided with the adult children last year, and Iona Costello is appealing.

Amanda Hurwitz, one of George's daughters who now lives in Connecticut, refused to comment to Daily Mail Online on the report or her stepmother's disappearance.

The widow's trip into New York was originally only supposed to last for several days.

'She said she was going to Manhattan for Easter,' Iona's mother Diana Malcolmson, 80, told Daily Mail Online.

The grandmother, who lives in nearby Shelter Island, New York, said police told her that surveillance footage from the parking garage showed Mrs Costello and Emily walking away from their car on March 30, holding suitcases and laughing.

She said that she spoke regularly with her daughter, but had not heard about any plans for extended vacations.

While trips into New York were fairly normal, Emily being out of school is not.

The ninth grader had been scheduled to return to Ross School in East Hampton from her Spring Break this past Tuesday.

The mother had told workers at her farm that she would be 'back on Tuesday' but did not return on March 31st, April 7th or April 14th.

Workers at the horse farm said earlier it was strange for Mrs Costello not to be in contact with them about raising the animals.

Southold police Chief of Police Martin Flatley told Daily Mail Online his force did not suspect foul play.

Relative Jane Costello said that calls to both Iona's and Emily's phones had gone straight to voicemail.

Mrs Costello's family have lived in both the UK and the US, but she is British by birth.

Her mother Diana and late father Euan, a stockbroker, lived in Stow in the Wold, Gloucestershire before setting sail for North America in 1958 aboard the Liberte cruise ship.

Their plan was to live in Canada but they instead moved to Long Island.

The couple returned to the UK at some point and records indicate that Mrs Costello was born in Marylebone in Central London, as was her brother Andrew.

Mrs Costello's aunt Gwendoline Preston married Lord William Wynne-Jones, a renowned chemist and former vice-chancellor of Newcastle University.