Hoyle Smith, 78, was last seen at his Sanford, North Carolina, home on November 4, 1995, the same day his 66-year-old girlfriend Margie Shaw Boone visited. After that day neither was heard from again. Investigators found a trail of blood inside Smith’s house and signs the home had been burglarized, but no other trace of the couple was located.

Five days later, DNA recovered from Smith’s home linked Donald Abercrombie to the scene after a 17-hour armed standoff in Fayetteville on November 9. Abercrombie was charged with robbery and two counts of first-degree murder and later told investigators he had buried the victims near his Spring Lake home; searches turned up no remains. In February 1997 a jury convicted Abercrombie of two counts of first-degree murder and he received two consecutive life terms.

The families still have no recovered remains and many questions remain about what happened to Hoyle Smith and Margie Shaw Boone. If anyone had contact with either victim around November 4, 1995, or has information about the area near Spring Lake at that time, please come forward.