Sherry Harbeke was 20 and working at the MGM Grand Hotel in Reno when a series of threats and disturbances made her fear for her safety in spring 1979. She reported a threatening phone call and a peeping tom at her Skyline Mobile Park residence and spent a night at her brother’s before returning home. On April 9, 1979 she was reportedly seen walking near her home; that was the last confirmed sighting. Her family reported her missing after she failed to attend a rock concert she had been looking forward to. Her car was later found abandoned on North Virginia Street, not far from her mobile home park.

Her severely decomposed body was recovered on June 5, 1979 hidden under a mattress behind the Black Springs Bar on North Virginia Street—between where her car was found and the mobile home park. An autopsy determined she died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. No arrests have been made and no suspects officially named; the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office lists the case as open. Some have suggested a possible link to the disappearance of Linda Taylor the month before, but no evidence has connected the cases.

Does anyone who lived in Reno in 1979 remember seeing or hearing anything that could help Sherry’s family finally get answers?