Susan Wickersham was 17 and a junior at Bend High School when she disappeared after an evening out on July 11, 1973. She had driven around town with a friend, returned her mother’s car to the Sage Room Restaurant about 11:30 p.m., told her mother friends would pick her up, and was last seen across the street. When no ride arrived it is believed she began the two-mile walk home and never made it.

Skeletal remains found near a cinder pit about five miles south of Bend on January 20, 1976 were identified by personal items and dental records as Susan’s. Examination of her skull showed a single small-caliber gunshot wound entering behind her right ear, likely from a .22 handgun. No arrests have ever been made.

The case inspired the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to form a cold case squad in 2005. Investigators and family reportedly have a person of interest, but officials say there has not been sufficient evidence to prosecute. Does anyone living in Bend in 1973 remember seeing Susan that night or anyone offering an explanation for how she might have ended up in that wooded area?