Skeletal remains found in a wooded area of Wilson, North Carolina, in 1977 have been identified as those of Cindy Marcell Blizzard, a 15-year-old Maryland girl who disappeared that year, authorities announced.
Remains and clothing were found Dec. 29, 1977, near a Firestone plant at 3001 Firestone Parkway. The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation responded.
A medical examiner found a white female, estimated at 16 to 23 years old, who had likely been there six months to two years.
The condition of the remains blocked a visual identification, according to what authorities reported.
Blizzard had run away from Monkton, Maryland, in the spring of 1977, investigators said. Early identification work compared dental records with missing-persons files; no match was found.
The case was later entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as UP6681.
In 2010, a state anthropologist reopened the case and submitted teeth from the remains for DNA testing. The resulting profile was entered into CODIS and NamUs, but it did not produce a match.
Assigned in 2024 by the SBI’s Cold Case Investigative Team, Special Investigator Andy Murr reviewed the case with the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and found the remains suitable for advanced DNA testing.
A bone sample then went to Othram, a forensic DNA laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram built a genetic profile from the sample for forensic genetic genealogy.
That search produced leads to potential relatives of Blizzard.
Reference DNA from those relatives was then compared with the unidentified remains using Othram’s KinSNP Rapid Relationship Testing. The testing confirmed the remains belonged to Blizzard.
The medical examiner’s office classified the manner of death as undetermined.
Circumstances surrounding the location and recovery of the remains raised the probability of foul play, investigators said, and the case is being treated as a homicide.
No one has been identified as responsible for her death.
The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office joined SBI Cold Case Investigative Team and the state medical examiner’s office carried the identification with help from the FBI’s NCIC Investigation and Operational Assistance Group, the Maryland Department of State Police Homicide Unit and the Raleigh Police Department’s Intel Unit.
Investigators are still seeking anyone who knew Blizzard in 1977 or who has information about her associates, whereabouts or activities at the time.
Tips can go to the SBI Cold Case Tip Line at 919-582-TIPS, to NCSBI or to the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office at 252-237-2118. The sheriff’s office continues the investigation.
Nearly five decades after the remains were discovered, investigators have resolved her identity. What happened to Blizzard remains unsolved, and the death investigation is still open.
