Rosa Maria Valentin, known as Rosita or Coco, was 16 when she was last seen in Hartford, Connecticut on July 26, 1986. After finishing a work shift she accepted a ride from a 29-year-old acquaintance, Pedro Miranda, in his white Ford Mustang Cobra; witnesses saw her get into the car and she never returned home. At the time she was wearing a cotton shirt with numbers, blue jeans, a Battiston’s Cleaners smock, white shoes, a silver necklace with a unicorn charm and carrying a black pocketbook with long straps. She is described as a Hispanic female with black or dark brown hair, brown eyes and a mole on her right cheek.

Early police handling drew sharp criticism: Rosa’s father was told to wait 24 hours to report her missing, officers treated her as a runaway despite family objections, and the case was administratively closed after an unverified call claiming she had come home. Years later attention shifted to Pedro Miranda after he was linked to two other girls who vanished in 1987 and 1988; he was convicted in those cases, was charged at one point in Rosa’s disappearance, but charges were dropped in 2015. Rosa has never been found and foul play is strongly suspected.

Did anyone in Hartford in 1986 see Rosa after she got into that Mustang or have information about Pedro Miranda’s movements that night?