North Carolina remains identified as Maryland teen

Skeletal remains found in the woods of eastern North Carolina nearly 50 years ago have been identified as those of Cindy Marcell Blizzard, a 15-year-old Maryland girl who ran away from home months before the discovery, state investigators said Tuesday.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said Blizzard’s death remains unsolved and is being treated as a possible homicide. Her cause of death has not been determined.

“Her death remains unsolved. Investigators are still looking for answers,” the bureau said.

The remains, along with clothing, were found Dec. 29, 1977, in a wooded area near a tire manufacturing plant in Wilson, a city east of Raleigh. Investigators now say the bones belonged to Blizzard, who had run away from Monkton, Maryland, in the spring of 1977.

At the time of the discovery, a medical examiner determined only that the remains were those of a white female, approximately 16 to 23 years old, who had likely been in the area for six months to two years, according to the state bureau. The medical examiner’s office classified the manner of death as undetermined.

But investigators said the circumstances of where and how the remains were recovered raised the possibility of foul play. The bureau said officials are treating the case as a homicide while continuing to seek information about how Blizzard died and how she came to be in Wilson.

For years, investigators had no name. After the remains were found, they compared dental records with missing persons cases, but the effort did not produce a match. The case went cold as forensic technology at the time offered limited options.

In 2010, a state anthropologist reopened the case and submitted the victim’s teeth for DNA testing. That testing also failed to identify her.

The breakthrough came after another review in 2024 by the bureau’s cold case investigative team. The Guardian reported that the review was led by special investigator Andy Murr, who worked with the medical examiner’s office to determine that the case was eligible for advanced DNA testing.

A forensic laboratory tested a bone sample and created a DNA profile that allowed investigators to search for potential relatives, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said. With help from the Maryland State Police homicide unit and the Raleigh Police Department’s intelligence unit, investigators ultimately identified the remains as Blizzard’s.

The bureau said the identification was made possible by more advanced DNA testing and forensic tools that did not exist when the remains were discovered in 1977.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about Blizzard, her disappearance or her death to contact them. Tips can be emailed to coldcases@ncsbi.gov, called in to the SBI cold case tip line at 919-582-TIPS, or directed to the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office at 252-237-2118.