Laurie Allison Smith, known as Allison, was 22 when she disappeared from Tucson on February 8, 1977. A Pima Community College student living with her boyfriend, she left at sunset in a rented blue Ford Maverick to pick up a large marijuana shipment in a remote area. She wore eyeglasses that evening rather than her usual contacts and was dressed less carefully than normal. Her maroon Karmann Ghia and personal belongings remained at her apartment on East Blackridge Drive.

Published accounts describe a pattern of growing vulnerability before her disappearance. Laurie had become acquainted with her former landlord, Chauncey Lee Mast, and sometimes sold or transported marijuana for him. On an earlier run she reported being stopped by men posing as plainclothes police who took the drugs she carried.

Laurie’s family lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and she left behind distinctive identifiers including pierced ears, a Pegasus tattoo on her shoulder, orthodontic dental work, and a toe ring. Few concrete answers exist about what happened after she drove away that evening. Does anyone with knowledge of Laurie’s circle in Tucson in 1977 or of the rented Ford Maverick’s movements have information to share?