Susan Carol Place was 17 when she left her Fort Lauderdale home on September 27, 1972, with a friend, 16-year-old Georgia Jessup, and an older man identified as Gerry Shepherd. The girls told Susan’s parents they were going to play guitar at a nearby beach; that was the last time either was seen alive.

In April 1973 decomposed, mutilated remains of both teenagers were found in a wooded area of Port St. Lucie. Investigators reported the girls had been tied to a tree and suffered severe trauma before death. A search of the home of former Martin County deputy Gerard John Schaefer turned up personal items belonging to several missing young women, including a purse identified as Susan Place’s. Witnesses and that physical evidence led to Schaefer being charged; he was convicted in October 1973 and sentenced to two life terms.

Schaefer has been linked by authorities to many other young women and girls, with estimates of additional victims varying widely. Does anyone have information about Susan’s last day or recall seeing her with an older man in Fort Lauderdale that September?