Selinda Jean Winegar was 16 when she disappeared from Burlington, Vermont after leaving her family’s Forest Street home on March 1, 1979 to visit a friend. Her family reported her missing soon after; in the months before she vanished she had been involved with a troubled crowd and experimenting with drugs. They also received threatening phone calls and changed to an unlisted number.

A few days after Selinda vanished an anonymous caller said she had been murdered and her body was at the bottom of the Winooski River, but no substantial evidence supported that claim and the river was never searched thoroughly. Over the years there have been unconfirmed sightings, including a relative’s reported sighting at her father’s 1981 funeral. At the time she was 5 feet 4 inches, 105 to 120 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, a cross-shaped scar on her left ankle, and was last seen in blue jeans, a striped green and white shirt, and rings on each finger.

The case remains open; investigators initially considered runaway possibilities but have not ruled out foul play. Does anyone have information that could help bring Selinda’s family some answers?