Cindy Lee Mellin, 19 and working as a sales clerk, was last seen the night of January 20, 1970, in the Buena Ventura Shopping Center parking lot in Ventura, California, after finishing a shift at the Broadway Department Store. Witnesses saw her standing by her 1960 Rambler sedan with an unidentified man who appeared to be helping with a flat tire; he was described as 30 to 40 years old, tall and thin, with light-colored hair.

The next morning Cindy’s father found her car still on a jack with the flat tire reinstalled and the spare nearby. Investigators later concluded the tire had been deliberately punctured. Leads over the years included reports of similar incidents in the area and a possible sighting in Oregon, plus various false claims, but none produced Cindy or a resolution. Her parents both died without learning her fate and her case remains classified as endangered missing.

Did anyone in Ventura in January 1970 notice someone helping a young woman with a 1960 Rambler or remember a suspicious tire puncture that night?