On October 26, 1975, 27-year-old Marlene Joy Annabelli was found dead in a remote brushy area west of Cooper City, Florida. Her remains were partially concealed beneath discarded plywood, and investigators concluded she had been beaten and strangled. The condition of her body suggested she was killed the same day she disappeared. Marlene was originally from Reading, Pennsylvania, and was living in Fort Lauderdale at the time.

Marlene’s murder was later placed with a series of unsolved homicides in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties from early 1975 to early 1976 known as the Flat-Tire Murders. Victims in that pattern were mostly young white women, often found in or near canals, and many had been sexually assaulted, beaten, or strangled. Investigators at the time described a likely suspect as a white male in his early twenties, physically fit, possibly married, and characterized as a sexual sadist who used charm to gain victims’ trust; no suspect was ever apprehended.

Anyone who knew Marlene, saw her in October 1975, or has information about these cases is asked to come forward.