Benita Chamberlin was 24 when she disappeared from Eugene, Oregon. She was last seen on February 23, 1978, after visiting Sacred Heart Hospital to nurse her premature newborn daughter and learning she could bring the baby home later that afternoon. That morning she spoke with a friend by phone and left the hospital wearing a black turtleneck sweater, white pants, a red and blue ski jacket, and earth shoes.

Her mother reported her missing in the early hours of February 24. Benita’s purse was found in a University of Oregon parking lot and her blue 1966 Mercury Comet was discovered abandoned in the parking lot of a Coca-Cola bottling plant, within a mile of the hospital. She was separated from her husband John Chamberlin and in the process of divorcing; her two older children were living with their father. Friends and coworkers described her as a devoted mother and reliable Holiday Inn maid who would not have willingly abandoned her three children.

Investigators briefly examined a human thigh found in a supermarket trash bin around the same time, but those remains were later identified as belonging to another missing woman. No suspects or definitive leads have been announced and the case has gone cold. If anyone knew Benita, saw her car or purse that day, or has information about her whereabouts, please share what is known.