Mary Beth Heinz, 21, was expected home to Mineola on Friday, May 5, 1972, after a week working as a mother’s helper in Bellmore. When she failed to arrive and could not be reached, family concern grew. On the morning of May 10, 1972, her body was found floating face down in a muddy stream off Maine Avenue in Rockville Centre, just west of Peninsula Boulevard. She was without shoes and reportedly missing a pocketbook; bruises and abrasions on her face and neck were noted. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation, and the injuries suggested a struggle.

Investigators later considered whether another body found in the same area was linked to Heinz’s killing. Decades passed without a prosecution announced for her death, and the case became a long cold file for the family. In December 2022, Richard Cottingham admitted in open court in Nassau County to strangling Heinz and throwing her body over a Rockville Centre bridge; prosecutors said they would not separately prosecute those additional admissions because Cottingham was already serving life sentences.

Did anyone in the Rockville Centre or Bellmore area in 1972 notice anything unusual about vehicles, people, or someone looking for a young woman traveling by bus that first weekend in May?