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A Maryland community is coming together to remember and hope to bring justice to a cold case that shook the community all those years ago, officials say.
It's been over 40 years since the body of an unknown woman was found in a steamer truck by mushroom hunters in Gambrill State Park on Aug. 24, 1982. Her identity, and her killer, were never discovered, says the Maryland Missing Persons Network.
A vigil to bring awareness back to the case is being held beginning at 6:45 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Gambrills State Park Tea Room parking lot, hosted by the Maryland Missing Persons Network.
Officials from the network say that at the time the woman's body was discovered in a footlocker inside of the steamer truck, she may have already been dead for up to 10 years. She was estimated to be anywhere from 17 to 45 years old at the time of her death.
Anthropologists were able to determine that the unknown woman stood around 5-foot-3, and likely had back and feet issues corresponding with spondylolysis, as well as having extensive dental work. It is believed she may have been a dancer or a gymnast.
Spondylolysis is a "stress fracture through the pars interarticularis of the lumbar vertebrae. The pars interarticularis is a thin bone segment joining two vertebrae," according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Throughout the years, police have searched missing persons reports across the nation in hopes to identify the woman or her killer, but all leads have come up cold.
Despite decades of dead ends, the Maryland Missing Persons Network is hoping that someone may finally come forward to help bring the victim justice.
"Sometimes many years later, people will speak up about things they wouldn’t speak up back then," say Maryland Missing Persons Network officials.
Officials are asking anyone with information on this missing person case to contact detectives immediately.
More information on details surrounding the unknown woman, including sketches, can be found here.
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