Remains found in North Carolina in 1970s identified as 15-year-old girl

Advanced DNA testing reveals skeletal remains belong to Cindy Marcell Blizzard, who had run away from home

Skeletal remains discovered nearly 50 years ago in North Carolina have been identified as those of a 15-year-old girl who had run away from home.

On 29 December 1977, skeletal remains and clothing were discovered in a wooded area near a tire manufacturing plant in Wilson, a city approximately 40 miles east of Raleigh. After decades of DNA testing, including advances in technology, investigators identified the remains as belonging to Cindy Marcell Blizzard, a 15-year-old girl who had run away from her home in Monkton, Maryland, in the spring of 1977, the North Carolina state bureau of investigation said.