The cold case of a missing Delaware County teenage girl is now a homicide investigation as police dig for evidence in the wooded area where they believe she went missing exactly 46 years ago.
“Horrible, horrific,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Andrew Martin told NBC10 in an exclusive interview. “I mean it’s everybody’s worst nightmare. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”
On a warm and sunny Saturday back on May 17, 1975, 15-year-old Wendy Eaton of Media, Pennsylvania, decided to take a walk into town and get a gift for her older brother. She left her home on Moccasin Trail and made her way toward Indian Lane. Eaton never made it into downtown Media however and went missing that day.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
When the investigation began, police dogs traced Eaton’s scent from her bedroom in her home on Moccasin Trail all the way to Indian Lane where police believe she vanished.
“She was just your regular neighborhood girl,” Martin said. “Good at school. Everybody had pleasant things to say about her. There was really no indication to suggest a runaway.”
Police are once again searching and digging in the wooded area behind a home at the intersection of Indian Lane and Media Station Road after receiving new leads. Officials are confident they can crack the cold case which they now consider a homicide investigation.
“I believe the State Police have done a remarkable job of getting this case to the position where we’re in right now,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said. “Where we think we can find some physical evidence on that property.”
Stollsteimer would not confirm whether they’re investigating the people who previously lived in the house near the search area in 1975.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
“We certainly can’t talk about individuals or that part of the investigation, but what I can tell you is that property is of interest to us for significant reasons,” he said.
Now investigators are hoping anyone who may have been involved in Eaton’s disappearance or has information on it, comes forward.
“There’s probably one person out there in your audience who will see this who can probably give us a tip or might be able to help us solve the case,” Stollsteimer told NBC10.
If you have any information on the case, please call Pennsylvania State Police at 215-452-5216.
