She Went Missing After Going To Visit A Friend: Then Her Family Received A Chilling Anonymous Phone Call, And Someone Found A Chunk Of Blonde Hair In The River
On March 1, 1979, 17-year-old Selinda Jean Winegar left her home in Burlington, Vermont, to visit a friend. However, she never returned. It was a seemingly ordinary outing that turned into a decades-long mystery.
In the months leading up to her disappearance, she had been spending time with a new crowd and was reportedly involved with drugs.
Even more unsettling, both Selinda and her family were receiving threatening phone calls, which only stopped when they changed to an unlisted telephone number. The relief was short-lived, though.
Shortly after her disappearance, her family received a chilling anonymous phone call stating that Selinda was murdered, and her body was dumped in the Winooski River. Authorities never searched the river, and the tip was never verified.
In 1985, six years after Selinda vanished, one of her sister’s friends claimed to have found a clump of blonde hair while fishing in the river. It’s unclear if this was ever investigated further.
The police think that Selinda ran away voluntarily. Over the years, there have been several unconfirmed sightings of Selinda.
For example, one family member stated that they saw her standing quietly at the back of a church during her father’s funeral in 1981. If it was truly her, she slipped away without a word.
“Several rumors about her whereabouts have been reported over the years, but she has not been seen since and remains a missing person,” said Vermont State Police.
It could’ve been the wishful thinking of a family member missing a relative that no one helped them find. An actual investigation could have shed more light on the likelihood of Selinda running away on her own.
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Selinda was a student at Burlington High School and the youngest of six children in a devout Roman Catholic family. The next sibling closest in age to her is 13 years her senior. Selinda sometimes also went by the name of Cindy.
Both of her parents have passed away without learning what happened to their youngest child. Her siblings are still searching for answers. The lack of closure has left them living in limbo, which so many families of missing persons know too well.
The mystery of what happened to Selinda Jean Winegar has stretched over four decades. Somewhere out there, the answer exists, and her family is waiting. Her case is another tragic tale of a missing child in America.
Was Selinda the victim of foul play? Or was she just another teenage runaway escaping from a strict religious family? Could the tip about the Winooski River have been true? And why wasn’t it investigated more thoroughly?
There have not been any recent reports about Selinda. If you have any information about Selinda, please contact the Williston Office at 802-878-7111.
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