Account
Feb 17, 2010
Mar 24, 2020
Teresa
Rhodes
62
13
63 inches
120 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On the morning of Saturday, September 27, 1975, 13-year-old Teresa Lynn Rhodes, known affectionately as Teri, left her home in South Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She told her mother she was going to a friend's house. It was around 11:00 a.m. when she walked out the door, leaving all her personal belongings behind, including her purse. Teri was a seventh-grade student at St. Paul's Middle School and was described as a fun-loving teenager. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 120 pounds, and had long brown hair and hazel eyes. Distinctive features included a dimple on her left cheek and a scar on her upper lip from a dog bite. She was last seen wearing red pants and a red and white jacket. Initially, law enforcement treated Teri's disappearance as a probable runaway case, a conclusion her family vehemently disputed. They knew her to be a responsible child who always informed them of her whereabouts and never missed dinner. However, the initial police report contained little more than a physical description and the words "possible runaway." It wasn't until 1982, after persistent pleas from her family, that the case was officially reopened and investigators began to uncover a more complex story. They learned that the bright-eyed teenager may have been living a secret life, one that involved attending parties with older individuals where drugs and alcohol were present. It came to light that Teri had been associating with some disreputable adult men, including a former police officer who was later convicted in a murder-for-hire plot and another man known to be a pedophile involved with drugs. Years after she vanished, a friend who was with Teri on that fateful day came forward with a crucial piece of information. She admitted that she and Teri had not gone shopping as they might have claimed, but instead went to a "party house" on Bell Way in Greensburg. This friend stated that she left the party at around 6:00 p.m. with a man, leaving Teri behind. That was the last time anyone in her circle reported seeing her. One prevalent theory in the investigation is that Teri may have died of an overdose at the party, and in a state of panic, others at the house disposed of her body. Despite various leads and searches over the decades, including tips that led investigators to search local parks, no trace of Teri has ever been found. The case grew cold, hampered by the initial lack of a serious investigation. Her parents passed away without ever knowing what happened to their youngest child, but her surviving siblings continue to hope for answers and closure. Foul play is strongly suspected in her disappearance, which remains an unsolved and deeply felt loss for her family and community.
Sep 27, 1975
Greensburg
Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County
15601
No
26284
South Greensburg Police Department
Greensburg
Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County
15601
1515 Poplar Street, Pennsylvania
7248342915
Local
Law Enforcement
05058911
South Greensburg Police Department
Brown
Hazel
Hazel
05/27/2026
