Margie Shaw Boone, 66, was last seen on November 4, 1995, in Sanford, North Carolina. She spent that day at the home of her 79-year-old boyfriend, Hoyle Smith; both were reported missing after neither returned or was seen again. Investigators found a trail of blood and signs of a burglary at Smith’s residence, but neither body was ever recovered.

Police later focused on Donald Abercrombie. DNA from Smith’s home tied him to the scene, and investigators say Abercrombie confessed to killing both Boone and Smith and claimed he buried them in woods near his Spring Lake home. Searches failed to locate remains. Prosecutors tried the case without bodies; in February 1997 a jury convicted Abercrombie of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery, and he received two consecutive life terms.

The convictions closed the criminal case but not the emotional one for family members still waiting for burial and final answers.