Katharina Buczek
“And her backpack was in her room as well, which she had been carrying earlier. So we knew that she at least came in and dropped that off.”
Cindy’s cell phone had also been left in her backpack– which was extremely uncharacteristic. According to her friends, the 21-year-old never went anywhere without her cell phone.
Even more bizarrely, the outfit Cindy had worn on Halloween– her bunny costume- was nowhere to be found in her apartment.
“We know that whenever she left the apartment, she was wearing the clothes she had on that night,” Detective Sprinkle said.
“We also know that her purse, her pocketbook, or whatever she had with her that evening that contained her driver’s license and credit cards were with her, too, because we could not locate those in the apartment.”
Upon checking Cindy’s bank account, though, investigators found there was no activity on her credit cards. Cindy’s email also had no activity– providing investigators with few clues about her disappearance.
So, authorities began conducting interviews– ultimately speaking with hundreds of people as the years passed following Cindy’s disappearance.
Search parties and bloodhounds also combed the area surrounding Cindy’s apartment, as well as the woods. Unfortunately, though, none of these efforts ever yielded any results.
One prominent theory surrounding Cindy’s disappearance is that she decided to visit a local 24-hour grocery store near her apartment after arriving home on Halloween. According to her friends, it was not unusual for the 21-year-old to make late-night store runs.
But, if the theory is true, what happened to Cindy after she left remains unknown.
“There’s no evidence of foul play or that a crime’s been committed. There’s only so much you can do,” Detective Sprinkle said at the time of Cindy’s disappearance.
