Nine-year-old Evan Bailey disappeared from a Vineland, New Jersey, parking lot on November 17, 1980, after an afternoon of play when he failed to return home. Local searches expanded to state investigators; nine days later a 20-year-old drifter, Malcolm Joseph Robbins, was arrested in nearby Millville and led detectives to a wooded area outside Vineland where Evan’s body was found.

An autopsy determined Evan had been sexually assaulted, his throat was slashed, and his body had multiple stab wounds and blunt-force trauma. Robbins reportedly confessed that he had lured the child into his vehicle, assaulted and then killed him to avoid identification, and he implicated himself in other unsolved child murders. New Jersey prosecutors indicted Robbins for kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and murder; his trial began in April 1981 and he pleaded guilty on April 27, 1981, receiving a life sentence with parole eligibility after 30 years. Investigators concluded Robbins acted alone in Evan’s murder.

If anyone remembers Evan that day, saw unusual activity in the Vineland parking lot, or has information that wasn’t shared during the original inquiries, please come forward.