Virginia Alice Welch, known as Jenny, was 22 when she vanished from Roanoke, Virginia. She was last seen July 12, 1982, after having recently moved to the southeast part of the city and been living with a male roommate. Welch had brown curly hair, blue eyes and numerous tattoos — a red rose on her right forearm, a hummingbird on her left breast, eagle wings on her right shoulder, a cobra on her upper left leg and a rebel flag with the words live to ride, ride to live. She dressed in a rocker/biker style, often wearing a leather vest and rings on every finger.

Welch had briefly served in the U.S. Army before a medical discharge and afterward became involved with the Pagans motorcycle gang; her then-boyfriend was a member. Her disappearance followed a drug raid that led to arrests of several gang members, and family said she had told her mother she was in too deep. She also mentioned a padlocked wooden box containing a letter that would explain everything; weeks after she disappeared the box was found broken open and the letter missing. The roommate told family she left with only a plastic bag and never returned; police reportedly cleared him but a sister noted inconsistencies in his account.

Anyone who knew Virginia, saw her around July 12, 1982, or has information about the broken box or her last movements is asked to come forward.