Simone Ridinger was 17 and living in Natick, Massachusetts, when she disappeared after finishing a shift at the Rainbow Restaurant on September 2, 1977. She intended to hitchhike to Cape Cod to join family on Martha’s Vineyard for Labor Day weekend but never arrived. Her family assumed she’d changed plans and did not report her missing until they returned home on September 11.

In 1986 a man said he had given a girl matching Simone’s description a ride on September 3, 1977. He claimed a state trooper on Route 128 in Westwood asked him to drive the girl to Cape Cod and that he dropped her off near the Hyannis Airport Rotary. That account remains unconfirmed, and investigators have long suspected foul play. Simone was described as free-spirited and often hitchhiked to get around.

Detectives have re-examined the case in recent years, re-interviewing former co-workers and following new leads, but Simone’s whereabouts remain unknown. If anyone has information about Simone Ridinger or remembers seeing a young woman matching her description in early September 1977, please come forward.