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Cindy Marcell Blizzard was just 15 when she was reported missing in the spring of 1977 from Monkton, Maryland, a tiny community north of Baltimore.
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Six months later, on Dec. 29, investigators responded to the discovery of skeletal remains in a wooded area near the Firestone plant in Wilson, over 300 miles away, and roughly 40 miles east of Raleigh.
But for almost five decades, authorities could not identify who they found near the tire manufacturing plant.
On Tuesday, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation had an answer: After 49 years of advances in forensics and with the help of multiple federal and state agencies, investigators identified the remains as Blizzard’s.
At the time Blizzard was found, the state medical examiner determined her remains belonged to a white female aged 16 to 23, the SBI wrote in a Tuesday release. She had likely been there for six months to two years, according to the medical examiner.
Investigators tried matching dental records to missing persons cases “for years” to no avail because the “forensic tools of the time weren’t enough,” the SBI wrote. The case went cold.
As late as 2010, a state anthropologist reopened the case and used DNA from Cindy’s teeth to find a missing persons match, the SBI wrote. The anthropologist found no match. Still, the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office held jurisdiction on the case for almost five decades.
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In 2024, SBI Special Investigator Andy Murr reviewed Cindy’s case — this time with the help of advanced DNA testing in conjunction with the medical examiner, the SBI wrote. The medical examiner sent a bone sample from Cindy’s remains to a forensic DNA lab.
The lab built an SNP profile, which compares hundreds of thousands of genetic markers to identify possible relatives of Cindy, the SBI wrote. A genealogy service used the profile to trace potential relatives, pointing investigators to a 15-year-old girl who had run away from Monkton.
Investigators from the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office and SBI identified the girl as Cindy Tuesday, the SBI wrote. They had assistance from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Investigation and Operational Assistance Group, the Maryland Department of State Police Homicide Unit, and the Raleigh Police Department’s Intel Unit.
Because of the location of Cindy’s remains and the circumstances of her recovery, there is a higher probability of foul play in Cindy’s death, the SBI wrote.
Investigators are still treating the case as a homicide and looking for answers.
Anyone with information about the 1977 case involving Cindy Marcell Blizzard is asked to call the SBI Cold Case Tip Line at 919-582-TIPS, email [email protected], or contact the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office at 252-237-2118.
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This story was originally published September 11, 2026 at 1:07 PM.