Cindy Anderson disappeared from the law offices in Toledo, Ohio where she worked in 1981 and UM profiled her case in the early 90s. In many instances one of the most frustrating things for investigators in solving a missing persons case is the lack of leads however, in the case of Cynthia Anderson part of the problem in solving her case lies in the fact that there seem to be several contradicting theories/leads that twist and turn into a hellish nightmare for anyone who is trying to make sense of her disappearance.

Cindy Anderson was a very religious young lady with strong ties to her community and her family. During the spring/summer of 1981 however she began to experience nightmares of being abducted in the middle of the night. Some people believe Cindy's anxieties were rooted in strange ominous declarations of love which were spray painted on a wall outside of the law offices where she worked. In the summer of 1981 messages reading "I love you Cindy by GW" appeared, were whitewashed over and reappeared again. These message unnerved Cindy so much that a buzzer to signal the shop next door was placed at her desk at the law offices in case she should find herself in danger. In addition whenever Cindy was alone in the office the doors were always locked.

On August 3rd, 1981 Cindy began recieving what appeared to be threatening phone calls while at work although when pressed on the issue later that day refused to elaborate. It is thought that these phone calls may have had something to do with some illegal activites that Anderson was privy to that were going on in the law offices involving drug deals.

The following day while alone at the office, Cindy Anderson vanished and was never seen again. A month later phone calls came into the police department claiming that Cindy had be abducted and was being held captive in the basement of a house in a nearby neighborhood. The caller however hung up before offering any specific location where Anderson might be found:

To this day the case remains unsolved however there are several leads and equally mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance

- The mysterious "GW" is believed to be a maintenance worker who worked at the complex where the law offices were located. He has since died.

- A romance novel Cindy was reading at the time of her disappearance was found open on her desk the day she vanished. It was opened to the only violent scene in the entire novel dealing with the abduction of the lead character.

- Cindy's purse and keys were missing from the office but her car was found locked and apparently untouched in the lot.

- There are at least three convicted murderers who are suspects in Anderson's disappearance and possible death including Anthony and Nathaniel Cook, two brothers convicted of nine murders in the Ohio area between them in the 1980's.

- The case was close to being solved in 1995 and in my opinion the scenerio that was brought to light then is likely what happened to Cindy Anderson, it is as follows: Richard Neller an attorney at the firm where Anderson worked was involved with now convicted drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. - It is believed that either Anderson overheard drug transactions between the two men and was silenced because of her knowledge of these dealings or possibly this was what is being termed as a "message killing" due to a dispute between the Mexican drug cartel and the judicial system of Lucas County.

Cynthia's employer, attorney Richard Neller, represented Joey Rodriguez in a criminal matter that was supposed to be "fixed". The deal fell through and Rodriguez vowed to kill Neller's secretary to send a message. - This all came before a judge in 1995 who dismissed the information relayed by a jailhouse informent as bogus.


- One question does remain though if the above theory does in fact pan out despite what the judge thinks...If this was indeed a "message killing" why has Cynthia's body never been found?

- Furthermore it is alleged that Cindy Anderson's remains to this day can be found in the basement of a house on Heatherford in Perrysburg, Ohio.

This whole case gives me the creeps - Any thoughts?

Very good post. Lots of info I wasn't aware of.

But DarkDante, you need to edit it. The post is repeated just after, "This whole case gives me the creeps - Any thoughts?" At that point, the first paragraph of your post begins again, and the entire post is repeated.

I've done that before, tried to edit then mistakenly pasted pasted everything again. Luckily, this forum is very liberal in editing. I edited one of my posts last week after it had been here for days. On a political forum I post at, you only have one hour to change your post.

Jeez, talk about timing! Now I'm editing my own post here. DarkDante obviously edited already, in fact just about the same time I posted this. The repeated stuff is long gone.

I actually don't think the spray painted message had anything to do with Cynthia's disappearance. I think the maintenance worker probably had a crush on her and although it was a pretty over the top thing to do to get someone's attention all in all it was harmless, just unsettling. The most plausible explanation for her disappearance was involving one of her bosses and the things she overheard. It could be possible that Neller himself abducted and killed her. If that was the case him being a lawyer he certainly would want to make it so the body was never found because he knew it would make the case for murder harder to prove. I never really bought the whole "she's being held in the basement of a white house" call and was probably some crackpot. It is sad for her family that she has never been found. I also think the part she was reading in her book was just coincidental although admittedly a disturbing one.

I could've swore I saw an update for this case saying one of her bosses at the law firm was involved in her disappearance & murder but they could of retracted that for whatever reasons.

sorry to bring up an old thread but I agree with echoes. I am POSITIVE, 100%, that I saw an update on this case in the mid to late 90's. Anyone else remember an update?

I'm sure there was an update also. I think it was a mention of the speculated Neller connection that Dark Dante included near the end of his post, and that Cindy Anderson either overheard drug transactions or was silenced as a message killing. I agree that is the most plausible scenario, although a judge tossed the info since it originated from an unreliable source.

My girlfriend and I just watched this one, and I got a lot of information not available to me before from reading this thread. Thanks for that, DarkDante.

It's funny, because absent this new info, she and I had reached the conclusion that Cynthia Anderson, in all likelihood, had walked away of her own volition.

First off, I think that DarkDante's original post in this thread is a little misrepresentative. Her father was evidently a religious person, and her family was religious (her sister insists the Cynthia was looking forward to going to a Bible college with her boyfriend), but there is no way to know for sure how Cynthia felt about any of this. Moreover, her father (who is one creepy dude, by the way) even mentions that in the weeks prior to her disappearance, she was becoming, essentially, more "worldly," spending more time on her looks than her "stomach." To me, it sounds like she was living in an environment that could easily have led an independently-minded young woman to want out, and her behavior would be consistent with a person who had secretly met "someone new" of whom she was sure her parents would not approve (because she probably met this person through the law office, outside the closed Church circle that was described as her "field of acquaintances"), someone with whom she perhaps expected to run away, someone she expected could support her in a more secular life style. With no obvious signs of a struggle and the front door still locked when her employers returned at lunch, there just didn't seem any reason to suspect that she hadn't walked away.

With this picture in mind, and keeping also in mind the absurdly convenient placement of the romance novel to that particular passage at the scene of her disappearance (I doubt someone coming in to kidnap her would have allowed her a moment to leave a book left to a certain page as a clue for people to find), much of the other "coincidences" can be read as an elaborate set up meant to build towards her ultimate act of severance: the dreams, the message (who's to say she isn't the on who painted it?), even the phone calls could have been set in motion by Cynthia herself.

I myself did not put much credence in the anonymous phone calls to the police about her subsequent whereabouts from the segment as it was presented, but if DarkDante is correct, and the rumor still has it that her remains are in the basement of a particular house, I am a little more interested, especially in light of this other information. One question: if there are so many details known about the house, why no search warrant?

At any rate, if the prison informant can be taken as telling a reasonable facsimile of the truth, our scenario went down the tubes. But the way that UM segment presents it, it screams "deliberate disappearance" to me, even though I'm sure one so elaborate, staged by a girl who is only 21, is relatively unusual. But living in a household with a father who feels comfortable essentially suggesting to a national television audience that his daughter was something of a strumpet because she was 21 and liked to wear make-up, and perhaps that that was the cause of her disappearance, can do strange things to people.

Hi Fellow Board People:

Lots of valuable information in the original post and the responses. Thanks everyone!

The attorney/drug dealer theory is interesting and something I had not heard before. But Im still hung up on the sprain painted wall. It seems to me anyone who would do such a crazy and bizarre thing is probably suffering from an obsessive disorder. And, if triggered (such as being rejected by Cynthia) could escalate their obsession to abduction and possibly even murder.

Does anyone know if the maintenance man responsible for the messages had a criminal record? Or if he had a history of sexual harassment? I sure would like to know more about this person.

Christopher

mozartpc27, I couldn't agree with you more. Cindy's father was a bit confusing in the segment. Just because she started wearing a little more makeup and skipped breakfast once in a while, her father seemed to think that she was obbsessed with her looks and that might have had something to do with her dissapearence. Sheesh. She may have run away just to escape her oppressive family.

I didn't get a good impression of the father either, describing Cindy as "obedient". Granted, Cindy is his daughter, but he struck me as the type that would get carried away if he saw a shoe upside down, or something equally as trivial.

Yeah, the father really rubbed me the wrong way too. His comment was that Cindy had become a "debutant" because she started putting up make-up and such. To me, that seemed like such a snide remark about his daughter. He barely seemed to concerned throughout the entire segment. He's definitely one of these guys with a stick up his ***.

I actually find these opinions about Cindy's father interesting and I agree with them. I had thought them in the past but never brought it up because I didnt know if I was the only one that felt that way or not. I do give more credit to the possibility that Cindy Anderson might have disappeared voluntarily to start a new life.

I really think that this is likely and the more I think about it the more likely that I think that is what she did. The reason I think that is, how could a grown woman be abducted in the middle of the day from a strip mall and have no one see it? I am sure there were people out and watching, especially during the lunch hour.

Her reasons for starting a new life would be several. Despite what the segment said I dont know that Cindy was a devout Christian fundamentalist. I think Cindy at least to me seemed like she was the liberal one of the family and she seemed like she wanted to kind of break away from her strict, ultra conservative family and strict religious sect that she had grown up in and had always been involved with.

Her sister said that Cindy was looking forward to quitting her job and two weeks and going to a bible college with her boyfriend which tells me that her boyfriend was also a part of this small, strict conservative circle. It sounded like Cindy for a woman of her age was doing well financially for herself so it is odd that she would at age 21 want to quit her job that she was doing well in and seemingly enjoyed to quit and go to college, a bible college especially.

I just have this nagging feeling that there is defintely more to the story than what her family was telling. I think they tried to make it seem like everything was hunky doory but it almost seems like Cindy did some stuff to create attention to make it seem like she might be at risk for being abducted. I even think it is possible, albeit a long shot that she actually spray painted the message on the wall to confuse everyone into thinking some kind of obsessed person was targeting her.

She then stages her own disappearance, changes her identity and is away free and clear. Clearly if she did disappear on her own she did not want to be found and didnt want her family finding her. I am sure she had more conflict with her parents than what was portrayed and it seems that this was increasing with Cindy caring more and more about her personal apperance and apperantly becoming more liberal than her father was comfortable with. I have a hard time believing this didnt lead to conflict between her and her parents, especially her father and it seems that she must have finally just tired of being part of a group that she didnt feel comfortable with.

Cindy's father to me, I dont know, I just got a creepy feeling from him kind of like how he acted as this soft spoken albeit very conservative guy, yet behind closed doors he may have been mean or something or at least very very strict with his family. I mean I am not saying he is necessarily a bad person, he just came off to me as being very arrogant and ignorant and just he really rubbed me the wrong way, I guess because he came off as being a little too conservative for me to be comfortable with.

At first, I didn't even question that she had been abducted. But the staging her own disappearance angle has definitely got me thinking...

Cyndi had the benefit of a locked door, which most people would not have had. That tells me she most likely would have only opened the door for people she knew, or at least screened the people she didn't knew. The only other scenario would have been somebody coming in through a back door, which I'm not even sure there was one. Interestingly, I don't recall there being sings of a struggle. were there? It would seem like somebody with bad intentions would go in either near the office's opening or closing time, but this happened during the middle of the day. If Cindy had to stage her disappearance, she might have had to do it in the middle of the day, because the attorneys would have been in the office at the open and close. She could have spray painted the messages and staged the hang up calls to throw people off, as well as stage the calls about Cyndi being alive in the basement of the house.

However, I'm not sure who could have helped Cyndi stage a disappearance. I don't think her boyfriend or immediate family would have helped, as they wanted her to go to bible college, and the attorneys appear to be stumped.

I haven't seen this case in a while so I don't remember the specifics. But if she had staged her own appearance...would she really stay hidden for this long? Wouldn't she have been found by now?

Well, even though I am increasingly thinking that Cindy staged her own disapperance, that is a good point you make DP1 and that would be one thing that would make me think she was abducted. I still lean towards Cindy staged her disappearance, or I at least view it as a very real possibility, however unless her family troubles were that severe and unless she really truly wanted to stay hidden that badly I would think she would at least call someone to at least let them know she was alive and well even if she wanted nothing to do with her f amily.

Well, I'm glad to see the scenario my girlfriend and I have worked out has picked up some steam. It is a little odd, DP1, that after all these years Cyndi would have made no attempt to contact any of the members of her family, especially her siblings, but there could be several explanations for this:

1) She disappeared in 1981. In the interim, she could have died of anything --- a car accident, natural causes, or perhaps even murdered. If she ran away to get married to someone her parents and family wouldn't approve of, leaving behind an "official" boyfriend to start a new life, it would be understandable why she would stay away for quite awhile without saying a word. If she died subsequently, whatever the reason, well, there it is. She may have tried to contact a family member somewhere down the road, but she died before she had the opportunity.
2) Perhaps, if she ran away with another man, that man turned out to be even more controlling and domineering than her father. It wouldn't be the first time a girl like Cynthia leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak; desperate to get out of an oppressive situation, her judgment in selecting an alternative might well have been severely hampered. When we watched the segment, my girlfriend suggested that the calls made by the alleged witness may have been from Cynthia herself, as a perverse cry for help (if she had discovered herself in a situation worse than the one she left with a man she feared, perhaps all she could do was break away for a moment or two to make a call. This scenario would explain why there were two calls, a short distance apart, in which only the vaguest descriptions were left. If it were Cynthia herself, newly at a place with which she was unfamiliar, suddenly finding herself "held" by a man she thought she could trust but now feared, perhaps she gave all the details she could). She could still be alive in this scenario, still with this man, still scared of him and now so ashamed or just so "reprogrammed" that she doesn't even identify with her former life anymore.
3) Maybe she just hated all of them that much. I've heard of family members who don't disappear to the extent that no one knows where they are, exactly, but who just the same don't talk with any siblings, etc., ever. Maybe she just went that extra step and made sure that not only she would refuse to speak with them all, she also made sure that they wouldn't even know where to find her if they wanted to do so.

I'm not sure this "walking away" theory is the most likely after reading some of the information DarkDante dug up, but, as I said, it did seem to fit the facts as they were presented in the UM segment. I'm not sure what to think now, but let's say this: I'd like to believe she is living a happy, fulfilled life somewhere far away from a life that troubled her so deeply she voluntarily abandoned it, money, family, and all.

I still subscribe to the theory that she was executed basically due to the fact she either knew too much about illegal activities going on where she worked or to send a message to someone she worked for. Of course that still doesn't explain why there has never been a body but thats just one of the mysteries that you need to sort out in this case and we don't have the answers to.

I still subscribe to the theory that she was executed basically due to the fact she either knew too much about illegal activities going on where she worked or to send a message to someone she worked for. Of course that still doesn't explain why there has never been a body but thats just one of the mysteries that you need to sort out in this case and we don't have the answers to.

I prefer your version. That Richard Neller case involved bigtime drug charges, convicted on five felony counts including criminal conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and heroin. Among his clients were major drug dealers. I think it's much more likely there is a connection between the two cases, something never successfully pinned on the drug connection, as opposed to a simple small law office that coincidentally was called home by bigtime felons and a young woman who either willingly walked away from her own life, and stayed away, or was abducted by someone else.

Here's the thing that immediately struck me about this case when I first saw it in the '80s. I'm surprised there hasn't been much comment about it. What the heck is that buzzer doing there? It always seemed way too cute to me, and therefore suspicious. These are big guys, successful at what they do. Daytime law office in a mundane part of the world. Doors locked from the inside. No apparent physical threats to Cindy or anyone else at the company. Yet somehow you install an alert buzzer at the desk of an entry level secretary, someone who is likely to be gone fairly soon? Makes no sense. It would make even less sense if UM hadn't wandered through the first minute forty with the filler mush about her dreams in the previous year. They almost want you to make the connection between, "boss, I've had terrible dreams!" and, "Cindy, don't worry! We'll install a buzzer!"

Drug dealing kingpins are notorious for not taking chances. I've read many books with that theme front and center. I think Cindy was taken out, whether she heard something or not. They might have been paranoid she had. Remember, she was leaving the job in two weeks so time was running short. Someone from the inside could easily plan something and have the scene be exactly as it was, nothing disturbed or strange. They could have asked her to drive somewhere with them. Naturally she takes her keys and purse but not her own car. Doors are locked. Gone out the back door.

Those uncomfortable phone calls the day before are mentioned by a client, Larry Mullins. I assume he was on the up and up, not involved in the drug scams. If he was involved, he easily could have made that story up. Cindy's sister never mentioned those calls. She said the family wasn't aware of anything in her life to make her bolt. If the calls actually happened, they could have been made by people involved in the company who knew the abduction was planned for a day later, giving weight to theories about a lunatic outsider who was after Cindy. If you look at details of Neller's drug case, there are aspects where he invented stories and told people what to say and do to avoid being nailed. An elaborate plot to eliminate a nosy secretary hardly seemed impossible when I was reading the court documents online.

I don't know what to make about the graffiti, other than it was hysterical everyone was scrambling for someone she knew with initials GW. Sure, a kook will do something like that and leave his own initials. Maybe he was sending autographed pictures at the same time.

And if it gave Cindy heeby jeebies, or worse, then how was it allowed to remain on that wall for a full six months?

I'm not buying a 21-year-old leaving everything behind. At that age you have your original family, maybe a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, a car, maybe a job or school enrollment, and perhaps a little bit of money put away. The voluntary disappearance scenario has her forfeiting all of that, even though there's no indication she had connections elsewhere, anyplace logical to go. Combine that with an untouched bank account and no use of her social security number and I don't think she lived very long after the last stretch of normalcy on August 4, 1981.

I tend to agree that the information about the level of involvement of this law firm with drugs/organized crime makes an "elimination" of a potential witness a whole lot more likely, to the point of being the probable explanation for Cynthia's disappearance. You make a good point, too, about the door buzzer --- it seemed unusual, but I was duped by the editing of the segment (as I suppose I was supposed to be), assuming it had been installed at Cynthia's request for her peace of mind because she was having "dreams." However, you're right, it does seem likely a highly unusual thing (do law offices keep copious amounts of cash lying about?), and probably says more about the type of people this firm was accustomed to dealing with than it does about fears Cynthia had of phantom dream shadows.

Our theory, as I said earlier, was based on the information in the segment as presented by UM, and I sure hope it is right (because it would be nice for once if one of these girls disappeared not because someone murdered her but because she felt like it). But, given everything we know about this law firm, I'll concede it is unlikely.

Well, even though I am increasingly thinking that Cindy staged her own disapperance, that is a good point you make DP1 and that would be one thing that would make me think she was abducted. I still lean towards Cindy staged her disappearance, or I at least view it as a very real possibility, however unless her family troubles were that severe and unless she really truly wanted to stay hidden that badly I would think she would at least call someone to at least let them know she was alive and well even if she wanted nothing to do with her f amily.

I just saw this case at 3 am last night (or this morning) on the Mystery Channel here in Canada. They had the 1995 update at the end but I am glad that there is info on here which would put that into question. My thoughts as I watched that segment were like those of most of you here - she staged her disappearance to get away from a stifling family situation. Considering how creepy her father was, does anyone on here think that Cindy might have been sexually abused by him and that would be a good reason why she left and has never made contact?

2) Perhaps, if she ran away with another man, that man turned out to be even more controlling and domineering than her father. It wouldn't be the first time a girl like Cynthia leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak; desperate to get out of an oppressive situation, her judgment in selecting an alternative might well have been severely hampered. When we watched the segment, my girlfriend suggested that the calls made by the alleged witness may have been from Cynthia herself, as a perverse cry for help (if she had discovered herself in a situation worse than the one she left with a man she feared, perhaps all she could do was break away for a moment or two to make a call. This scenario would explain why there were two calls, a short distance apart, in which only the vaguest descriptions were left. If it were Cynthia herself, newly at a place with which she was unfamiliar, suddenly finding herself "held" by a man she thought she could trust but now feared, perhaps she gave all the details she could). She could still be alive in this scenario, still with this man, still scared of him and now so ashamed or just so "reprogrammed" that she doesn't even identify with her former life anymore.


I too believe that Cindy (or however you spell her name) may have made those calls to the police but I think that she made them to throw them off the fact that she disappeared on her own.

I'm not remembering this case............can someone recap it for me?


:confused:

I'm not remembering this case............can someone recap it for me?


:confused:

She was the 20 year old who disappeared mysteriously while at her job as a secretary at a law firm early one morning. She has never been found. Here is her doe network profile:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/287dfoh.html

She was the 20 year old who disappeared mysteriously while at her job as a secretary at a law firm early one morning. She has never been found. Here is her doe network profile:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/287dfoh.html


Aww, she's pretty. I don't remember it though. CD, who's your new avatar?

^ Those are crystaldawn's children Randolph and Emily

^ Those are crystaldawn's children Randolph and Emily

Yes, you gave it away Dante. Incidentally that would make me what around 100. :lol:

I just saw this case at 3 am last night (or this morning) on the Mystery Channel here in Canada. They had the 1995 update at the end but I am glad that there is info on here which would put that into question. My thoughts as I watched that segment were like those of most of you here - she staged her disappearance to get away from a stifling family situation. Considering how creepy her father was, does anyone on here think that Cindy might have been sexually abused by him and that would be a good reason why she left and has never made contact?

Wow, so you still get Unsolved Mysteries in Canada. We're suffering from withdrawal here in the states.

Also, I didn't know there was an update on this case? Was it one of the pseud-updates? What was mentioned?

I don't think the father sexually abused her, but I definitely got a bad vibe from him. He strikes me as the type that might have a heart attack if one of his children told him they were voting Democratic.

Well, I agree with Wiseguy on this one somewhat, I dont think that Cindy's father sexually molested her. However I too got a bad vibe about him, there is just something about him that doesnt seem right and doesnt feel right. Maybe it is just his demeanor of your daughter is missing, maybe dead, you act like everything is hunky doory and smile and stuff. It is just an unusual approach.

As for the joke about him having a heart attack if his kids voted democrat. Well that is interesting, I hadnt thought of that, surprising because as a republican I hadnt thought of it before. However you may actually have a point wiseguy, because I do think that Cindy's father viewed her as the black sheep of the family, as the "liberal" of the family if you will because she actually cared a lot about her apperance and stuff.

Well, I agree with Wiseguy on this one somewhat, I dont think that Cindy's father sexually molested her. However I too got a bad vibe about him, there is just something about him that doesnt seem right and doesnt feel right. Maybe it is just his demeanor of your daughter is missing, maybe dead, you act like everything is hunky doory and smile and stuff. It is just an unusual approach.

As for the joke about him having a heart attack if his kids voted democrat. Well that is interesting, I hadnt thought of that, surprising because as a republican I hadnt thought of it before. However you may actually have a point wiseguy, because I do think that Cindy's father viewed her as the black sheep of the family, as the "liberal" of the family if you will because she actually cared a lot about her apperance and stuff.

Yeah, the father did take an unusual approach. He seemed very confident that she would return unscathed, but it had been about a decade since her disappearance and there was absolutely no word from her at all. I got the impression he thought she disappeared on her own, but the evidence seems to indicate otherwise.

Wow, so you still get Unsolved Mysteries in Canada. We're suffering from withdrawal here in the states.

Also, I didn't know there was an update on this case? Was it one of the pseud-updates? What was mentioned?

I don't think the father sexually abused her, but I definitely got a bad vibe from him. He strikes me as the type that might have a heart attack if one of his children told him they were voting Democratic.

We get the same episode three times a day on the Mystery Channel which is a digital cable channel. It airs at 2 pm, 6 pm and 3 am weekdays. As I am a night owl and presently on vacation, I love to watch it at 3 am as that adds to the creepiness of the show.

The update that they gave on the Anderson case was about the drug deals that she supposedly had been privy to by the client of that law firm that she worked for. The guy had been arrested and was implicated in her disappearance but from what I am reading in this thread, whatever evidence there was was thrown out by the judge later on because it was elicited through an alleged jailhouse confession to another inmate who may have lied about it. I still believe that Cindy disappeared on her own accord to escape that oppressive family that she was a part of.

^ I don't believe that Cindy disappeared on her own...its an interesting variation on the more common scenerio but there is also a ton of evidence that Cindy's bosses at the law firm were involved in nefarious dealings and Cindy was either implicated in these dealings or aware of them to the point where it put her in jeporady. There was a well connected chain of events in my eyes that Cindy Anderson was scared to death of the events going on around her at the law firm and perhaps was being stalked in the days prior to her disappearance.

I'm not saying its impossible that she disappeared on her own to escape her oppressive family BUT we are just all making that assumption due to our general dislike of Mr. Anderson. We have no idea how the relationship between him and his daughter was. She could've been rebelling in her own way against that religious atmosphere in which she was raised in but its also important to note that her boyfriend was also very religious and she was planning to attend a bible camp with him, so there is some suggestion in my eyes that she was not rebelling in any way shape or form but shared many of the beliefs her parents did.

I just think there is more evidence pointing to foul play due to her involvement at the law firm than her running off to escape her nut bag father. But that guy is still seriously creepy OR he has so much faith that he believes that his daughter (even though she was missing over ten years at that point) still had to be alive...maybe he just hadn't come to grips with the fact or wouldn't allow himself to come to grips with the fact that she was likely dead. Maybe he was suffering from a good case of denial.

PS: The update you mentioned never aired in the syndications on Lifetime to my knowledge. Interesting.

^ I don't believe that Cindy disappeared on her own...its an interesting variation on the more common scenerio but there is also a ton of evidence that Cindy's bosses at the law firm were involved in nefarious dealings and Cindy was either implicated in these dealings or aware of them to the point where it put her in jeporady. There was a well connected chain of events in my eyes that Cindy Anderson was scared to death of the events going on around her at the law firm and perhaps was being stalked in the days prior to her disappearance.

I'm not saying its impossible that she disappeared on her own to escape her oppressive family BUT we are just all making that assumption due to our general dislike of Mr. Anderson. We have no idea how the relationship between him and his daughter was. She could've been rebelling in her own way against that religious atmosphere in which she was raised in but its also important to note that her boyfriend was also very religious and she was planning to attend a bible camp with him, so there is some suggestion in my eyes that she was not rebelling in any way shape or form but shared many of the beliefs her parents did.

I just think there is more evidence pointing to foul play due to her involvement at the law firm than her running off to escape her nut bag father. But that guy is still seriously creepy OR he has so much faith that he believes that his daughter (even though she was missing over ten years at that point) still had to be alive...maybe he just hadn't come to grips with the fact or wouldn't allow himself to come to grips with the fact that she was likely dead. Maybe he was suffering from a good case of denial.

PS: The update you mentioned never aired in the syndications on Lifetime to my knowledge. Interesting.

I am really not sure what the Mystery Channel is doing up here in Canada with UM. They don't appear to be going in any kind of order as one night, you might get one half hour with two segments from the early years of the show and then in the next half hour, they might show segments from the later years. Sometimes there are updates while in other cases there aren't, although there should be from what I am seeing on here.

Yes that is interesting about the update, it makes me lean more towards unwillful disappearance.

Although Cindy might not have cared for her father's strictness, it wasn't like she was getting abused or anything, at least not that we're aware of. Her family seemed to be a close unit, they weren't poor, it wasn't a broken home, so I don't know if a disagreement about political/religious beliefs would have been enough for her to leave and not communicate with any of them for 26 years. Seems a bit unlikely.

While a lot of the missing persons cases have had sightings, tips, etc. This one has had none, outside of two very suspicious phone calls that alleged she was in someone's basement. However the credibility of that witness has to be questioned, as they didn't get into specific details, and never left any contact info.

Assuming her abductor was buzzed in, I'm guessing she at least knew the perosn, and most likely trusted him, as she had the option of just not buzzing that person in.

Were any of the law firm people interviewed in the segment involved in the drug deals? I would have to review this drug deal stuff before I could form an opinion but if it is true what people are saying, that changes everything then. Whenever drugs are involved the whole thing just stinks and bad things happen. As of now I still think that Cindy staged her own disapperance, however the stalker theory is interesting. I do agree with Wiseguy that if Cindy was abducted and murdered it was by someone she knew and trusted.

As for the maintenance man whose initials were G.W. I actually think it might even be possible he didnt ev en spray paint that, but that rather someone else spray painted it to frame him so that when Cindy disappeared the police would focus on him and view him as a suspect and it would throw the cops off their trail. If it was the maintenance man that did the spray painting, in my opinion he had nothing to do with Cindy's disapperance and rather just had a crush on her and took it a little too far with the whole spray painting thing.

As for Mr. Anderson, I am not saying he is a bad person, I just find him creepy. I found his demeanor to be very unusual and I just got the impression that he thought that Cindy had disappeared on her own. I do think that Dark Dante made a good point about Mr. Anderson, so I agree with him on that.

I do think that Cindy while sharing some beliefs as her parents was from the sounds of it the liberal of the family.

^ Nobody interviewed in the segment was involved in the drug deals per say but read my original post, Richard Neller an attorney at the law firm when Cindy Anderson worked was highly involved in illegal activities and may have gotten himself in a bit too deep and Cindy Anderson was killed either to send a message to Neller or because these same people feared that Anderson was a liability to them.

Regarding Cindy's father: If Cindy was the liberal of the family it would be very much in line with most parents and children. In general, people in their early 20s are usually a bit more liberal than their parents.

Finally regarding the tip about the house that Cindy Anderson was supposedly being held captive in. This may have a bit more juice to it than we are giving it credit for. There was a website online a few years ago (I think its down now unfortunatley) and it had a lot of details about the case and from memory it also had a photo of the house where police believe Cindy Anderson was held captive in. There is another rumor that she is buried in the basement of someone's house along the strip where the authorities searched in the UM segment.

(have been out of the loop for 10 months, forgive me for digging this up! :p )

Just watched this segment again on one of crystaldawn's DVDs......

I'm more inclined to believe that she disappeared of her own volition. The thing that gets me about the foul play scenario being floated around is this........if the two attorneys (Neller and another guy?) were gone when she disappeared and noone else in the shopping center heard/saw anything out of the ordinary.....then that leaves who? Associates of the drug dealer Neller was involved with?? I'd have a hard time believing that she would either a) just go ahead and let them in or b) go outside and meet with them alone.

I'd like to know more though about the the rumor that she's buried in the basement of a house out in Perrysburg (alluded to by the creepy female caller).......does it have anything to do with Neller and his illegal activities??

I have never thought that she disappeared on her own. This may seem like a pretty mundane fact but I read an article (which I believe I posted on here) that even said there was still the smell of fingernail polish in the air like Cindy may have been doing that right before she went missing. That doesn't seem likely she would feel the need to polish her nails right before she ran away. She didn't seem to have any reason to want to disappear. Granted her father was probably pretty strict but she was about to attend college with her boyfriend so no doubt she was looking forward to the immediate future.

I don't know if that call was just a crackpot or it had anything to do with the lawyer that possibly played a role in her disappearance. Sadly I think there's a good chance she'll never be found unless someone's conscience gets to them and they confess or tell a confidante and they notify the authorities.

I have never thought that she disappeared on her own. This may seem like a pretty mundane fact but I read an article (which I believe I posted on here) that even said there was still the smell of fingernail polish in the air like Cindy may have been doing that right before she went missing. That doesn't seem likely she would feel the need to polish her nails right before she ran away. She didn't seem to have any reason to want to disappear. Granted her father was probably pretty strict but she was about to attend college with her boyfriend so no doubt she was looking forward to the immediate future.

I don't know if that call was just a crackpot or it had anything to do with the lawyer that possibly played a role in her disappearance. Sadly I think there's a good chance she'll never be found unless someone's conscious gets to them and they confess or tell a confidante and they notify the authorities.

I couldn't agree more. Well said!

Hi,

I have heard rumours about this update and would give my buck teeth to know more about it; I remember this case from when it very first aired and have never forgotten it. Does anybody, anybody at all have the update taped? Can somebody tell us exactly what it says?

Hi,

I have heard rumours about this update and would give my buck teeth to know more about it; I remember this case from when it very first aired and have never forgotten it. Does anybody, anybody at all have the update taped? Can somebdy tell us exactly what it says?

Huh... I'm 99.999234% sure that an update for this case never ran in the U.S. I remember this case well from when it first aired on NBC and I was always looking for more info.

Even searching on Google doesn't come up with much. I'm not saying the update didn't happen, just that it most likely never ran in the U.S. so that's why most of us are in the dark.

Sadly with all the time that has passed, I don't think we'll ever really know.

Hi,

I have heard rumours about this update and would give my buck teeth to know more about it; I remember this case from when it very first aired and have never forgotten it. Does anybody, anybody at all have the update taped? Can somebdy tell us exactly what it says?

I don't think UM ever did any update on the case. Technically there isn't anything to update - I mean she's never been found and to my knowledge there's never been any arrests in the case. Here is her Charley Project page which gives some detail about her case and possible suspects:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/anderson_cynthia.html

I spent about an hour searching around the internet today and came up with some additional background info about this possible “update”:

Richard Neller was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison on Aug. 28, 1997 on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and four counts of unlawful use of communications facilities. He was released in April, 2002, and subsequently disbarred.

Neller was said to assist in the cover up to Cindy Anderson's murder by associate drug felon Jose Rodriguez Jr. This was claimed at Neller’s trial by a jailhouse snitch/bankrobber/jailbreak named Scott Kelly Hansen. He claimed that Rodriguez murdered Anderson with a 9 mm handgun and Neller helped cover up the crime. In the articles I found, no motive was discussed.

Hansen’s testimony got him an early release from prison but the judge found that his testimony did not form a strong enough link to charge Neller with any involvement in covering up Cindy's murder.

Hansen also testified in another case that a man named Jeffrey McDermott had confessed to him that he had killed Elwood “Poe” McKown, a local fence company owner. McDermott eventually confessed to the murder. So Hansen may have credible info.

Hansen subsequently entered the witness protection program but was soon back to robbing banks and rearrested. He broke out of jail in 1998 and, I assume was rearrested, but I haven’t tracked down any info about that.

Also, the article CrystalDawn refers to about the scent of Cindy’s nail-polish still fresh in the office upon the arrival of her coworkers is mentioned in a 2001 Toledo Blade profile of Cindy Anderson’s father. Incidentally, he still clings to hope that Cindy is still alive. This article is titled:

DAD CLINGS TO HOPE FOR DAUGHTER WHO DISAPPEARED IN '81 CYNTHIA ANDERSON CASE

There is a $2.95 charge to recover it, I might pay it but might not. Does anybody have the text of the article by chance? It looks rather substantial at 1,637 words.

One article I found about snitch Hansen is here:

http://www.clipfile.org/1998/11/17/226/

Food for thought… I think it is probably fair to say that Neller and Rodriguez were involved, I just wish one of them would finally come clean about her murder.

Yes, I don't quite believe that she would have disappeared on her own here. Especially with the information that the snitch gave. Why would he have picked that case out of however many there may have been to choose from for snitching on Neller. Sure, it got him an early release, but if he caught one murderer with his testimony, he quite possibly could be telling the truth in this case too...Still I would like to know about the phone calls.

I quite clearly remember an update to this case that aired sometime in the mid-90s. I remember it so well because I'd seen this segment many times in reruns on Lifetime before with no update and was startled to see it that time. It said that her body had never been found but she may have learned of drug-running in the law firm and some of her co-workers had been arrested for unrelated charges.

Then the next time I saw the segment a couple of years later I was waiting to see the update again and it wasn't there. I remember when I first joined this site I looked for more information and was disappointed to see that the attorneys haven't been positively linked to her disappearance and the case is still unsolved.

I quite clearly remember an update to this case that aired sometime in the mid-90s. I remember it so well because I'd seen this segment many times in reruns on Lifetime before with no update and was startled to see it that time. It said that her body had never been found but she may have learned of drug-running in the law firm and some of her co-workers had been arrested for unrelated charges.

Then the next time I saw the segment a couple of years later I was waiting to see the update again and it wasn't there. I remember when I first joined this site I looked for more information and was disappointed to see that the attorneys haven't been positively linked to her disappearance and the case is still unsolved.

I can see that happening. NBC thought they would put a quick update about possibly what happened to Cindy Anderson. Then when nothing came of it they just pulled the update. Kind of like the same reason on the NBC version they show an update about an arrest to the killing of wild horses then Lifetime edits that update out I'm assuming because they were never convicted. Thanks for the info gaf! :)

Well, this is interesting, I just go back and forth, one thing is for sure, Cindy's father creeps me out. I mean, maybe it is just because of his strong faith, I dont know, but him acting like Ward Cleaver and acting like Cindy wanting to wear make up and have a flat stomach caused her to become all erratic and disappear was ignorant on his part. I am not saying he is a bad person, I do not know him so I cannot say one way or the other, I am just saying the guy's attitude was such that I just found it creepy.

I mean here he is talking about his missing daughter, smiling, it just seemed in rather bad taste, but I guess his faith is so strong, he must have figured she was in God's hands and was alright regardless of whether she was murdered or disappeared on her own. But his attitude just rubbed me the wrong way.

Well, the one guy I feel bad for is the maintanence man, and in fact, I actually have developed a theory on the whole spray paint thing. I think it is very possible that if Cindy was murdered that it was probably planned for weeks, if not months in advance, it could be whoever kidnapped and later murdered Cindy, spray painted the creepy "I love you Cindy by GW" message in order to frame the maintanence man and throw the cops off their trail.

The maintanence man I believe passed away several years ago and had always denied both spray painting the message and having anything to do with Cindy's disappearance but he was a suspect until the end, he might not have been a top suspect, but he was a suspect nonetheless, so hopefully his name can be cleared for his families sake at least.

I was telling my son how I had a link with Unsolved Mysteries, years ago and he wanted to look it up on the internet.I find all this very interesting about everyone's theories on the spraypainting by GW. I am the Cindy the message was written for. GW was Greg Wiczynski who was the love of my life.He used to write "I Love You Cindy, GW" on everything including overpasses, and neighbor's garages.We lived in the neighborhood across the street from the Manhattan Blvd Law Office where Cindy Anderson worked.We weren't even aware there was a law office there,we hung out there because of the Pizza Hut that was located right there. We were 17 and 18 years old around this time. I went into the Army in 1981. When I was in Germany, Greg died on his motorcycle, he was only 20 years old. He was NOT a maintenance man and we never knew who Cynthia Anderson was.We never heard of her.Sometime after returning from the Army in 1985, my parents and I were out dining and Unsolved Mysteries was playing in the restaurant up on the corner tv.When the story came on about Cindy Anderson and they mentioned the spray paint and GW, my mom looked at me and I at her.She said you have to call the show.I did and the next day, a detective came to my house.I gave him letters from Greg with his handwriting and his "GW loves Cindy"right on them.He asked me why I waited so long to tell them but I had been in the Army and I never even heard of any of this.I noticed on the next update on her, they left the spraypainting part of the story out because they now know who GW is.I'm sure maybe you can find the story of him dying on his motorcycle.He lived, and died on Manhattan Blvd. He died September 27, 1983.The story about his friends chopping down the tree that he crashed into was in the Toledo Blade.He also had painted inside a building she could not see.They were building a Fashion Bug and we would hang out inside the unfished building after the workers went home for the day.He painted up the walls inside of here too.When I mentioned it to the detective he said yes, there was painting on the walls inside the building before it was finished, and we didn't put that information out thereto the public.I am very upset at all this Maintenance Man business.My Greg was not a Maintenance Man and if there was one being unjustly accused, I still have every letter my Greg ever wrote me for proof.I believe that the Toledo Police focused too much on this GW business and let the ball drop on the real perpetrators.Just like cases where the parents are accused of crimes against their own children or husbands with wives, the police get their mind set on a suspect, they don't expand their horizons as they should.Any good detective could have noticed these spraypaintings were in places Cynthia Anderson couldn't see so maybe they were from a neighborhood kid.If they only would have crossed the street (Manhattan Blvd) and went down the first alley, they would have found numerous Cindy and GW's.They could have asked any teenager in the neighborhood who that was and chances are they would have told them.Greg was very popular in the neighborhood.They called him "Farmer" and he was about the only teenager we knew who drove a motorcycle.They could have cleared the GW theory right up and looked for the real abductor instead of wasting all those years.Thank You. GW's Cindy.

Wow, amazing

I quite clearly remember an update to this case that aired sometime in the mid-90s. I remember it so well because I'd seen this segment many times in reruns on Lifetime before with no update and was startled to see it that time. It said that her body had never been found but she may have learned of drug-running in the law firm and some of her co-workers had been arrested for unrelated charges.

Then the next time I saw the segment a couple of years later I was waiting to see the update again and it wasn't there. I remember when I first joined this site I looked for more information and was disappointed to see that the attorneys haven't been positively linked to her disappearance and the case is still unsolved.

This is what I remember as well. I want to say I saw the update sometime in the 1997 timeframe.

I was telling my son how I had a link with Unsolved Mysteries, years ago and he wanted to look it up on the internet.I find all this very interesting about everyone's theories on the spraypainting by GW. I am the Cindy the message was written for. GW was Greg Wiczynski who was the love of my life.He used to write "I Love You Cindy, GW" on everything including overpasses, and neighbor's garages.We lived in the neighborhood across the street from the Manhattan Blvd Law Office where Cindy Anderson worked.We weren't even aware there was a law office there,we hung out there because of the Pizza Hut that was located right there. We were 17 and 18 years old around this time. I went into the Army in 1981. When I was in Germany, Greg died on his motorcycle, he was only 20 years old. He was NOT a maintenance man and we never knew who Cynthia Anderson was.We never heard of her.Sometime after returning from the Army in 1985, my parents and I were out dining and Unsolved Mysteries was playing in the restaurant up on the corner tv.When the story came on about Cindy Anderson and they mentioned the spray paint and GW, my mom looked at me and I at her.She said you have to call the show.I did and the next day, a detective came to my house.I gave him letters from Greg with his handwriting and his "GW loves Cindy"right on them.He asked me why I waited so long to tell them but I had been in the Army and I never even heard of any of this.I noticed on the next update on her, they left the spraypainting part of the story out because they now know who GW is.I'm sure maybe you can find the story of him dying on his motorcycle.He lived, and died on Manhattan Blvd. He died September 27, 1983.The story about his friends chopping down the tree that he crashed into was in the Toledo Blade.He also had painted inside a building she could not see.They were building a Fashion Bug and we would hang out inside the unfished building after the workers went home for the day.He painted up the walls inside of here too.When I mentioned it to the detective he said yes, there was painting on the walls inside the building before it was finished, and we didn't put that information out thereto the public.I am very upset at all this Maintenance Man business.My Greg was not a Maintenance Man and if there was one being unjustly accused, I still have every letter my Greg ever wrote me for proof.I believe that the Toledo Police focused too much on this GW business and let the ball drop on the real perpetrators.Just like cases where the parents are accused of crimes against their own children or husbands with wives, the police get their mind set on a suspect, they don't expand their horizons as they should.Any good detective could have noticed these spraypaintings were in places Cynthia Anderson couldn't see so maybe they were from a neighborhood kid.If they only would have crossed the street (Manhattan Blvd) and went down the first alley, they would have found numerous Cindy and GW's.They could have asked any teenager in the neighborhood who that was and chances are they would have told them.Greg was very popular in the neighborhood.They called him "Farmer" and he was about the only teenager we knew who drove a motorcycle.They could have cleared the GW theory right up and looked for the real abductor instead of wasting all those years.Thank You. GW's Cindy.

Thanks so much for posting, very interesting! Before I read this I had thought the "maintenance man" UM talked about could have been a suspect but of course no longer think that. I don't think UM ever edited that spray painted sign out of the segment, did they? Every time I've seen it its been on there. I wish I would have seen this update thats mentioned. I watched it on Lifetime many times and have never seen it.

Amazing! Thanks to the "real" Cindy for the information. The grafitti was always the most sinister parts of the case in my view, and now that has been explained, I'm not sure what to think.

I was telling my son how I had a link with Unsolved Mysteries, years ago and he wanted to look it up on the internet.I find all this very interesting about everyone's theories on the spraypainting by GW. I am the Cindy the message was written for. GW was Greg Wiczynski who was the love of my life.He used to write "I Love You Cindy, GW" on everything including overpasses, and neighbor's garages.We lived in the neighborhood across the street from the Manhattan Blvd Law Office where Cindy Anderson worked.We weren't even aware there was a law office there,we hung out there because of the Pizza Hut that was located right there. We were 17 and 18 years old around this time. I went into the Army in 1981. When I was in Germany, Greg died on his motorcycle, he was only 20 years old. He was NOT a maintenance man and we never knew who Cynthia Anderson was.We never heard of her.Sometime after returning from the Army in 1985, my parents and I were out dining and Unsolved Mysteries was playing in the restaurant up on the corner tv.When the story came on about Cindy Anderson and they mentioned the spray paint and GW, my mom looked at me and I at her.She said you have to call the show.I did and the next day, a detective came to my house.I gave him letters from Greg with his handwriting and his "GW loves Cindy"right on them.He asked me why I waited so long to tell them but I had been in the Army and I never even heard of any of this.I noticed on the next update on her, they left the spraypainting part of the story out because they now know who GW is.I'm sure maybe you can find the story of him dying on his motorcycle.He lived, and died on Manhattan Blvd. He died September 27, 1983.The story about his friends chopping down the tree that he crashed into was in the Toledo Blade.He also had painted inside a building she could not see.They were building a Fashion Bug and we would hang out inside the unfished building after the workers went home for the day.He painted up the walls inside of here too.When I mentioned it to the detective he said yes, there was painting on the walls inside the building before it was finished, and we didn't put that information out thereto the public.I am very upset at all this Maintenance Man business.My Greg was not a Maintenance Man and if there was one being unjustly accused, I still have every letter my Greg ever wrote me for proof.I believe that the Toledo Police focused too much on this GW business and let the ball drop on the real perpetrators.Just like cases where the parents are accused of crimes against their own children or husbands with wives, the police get their mind set on a suspect, they don't expand their horizons as they should.Any good detective could have noticed these spraypaintings were in places Cynthia Anderson couldn't see so maybe they were from a neighborhood kid.If they only would have crossed the street (Manhattan Blvd) and went down the first alley, they would have found numerous Cindy and GW's.They could have asked any teenager in the neighborhood who that was and chances are they would have told them.Greg was very popular in the neighborhood.They called him "Farmer" and he was about the only teenager we knew who drove a motorcycle.They could have cleared the GW theory right up and looked for the real abductor instead of wasting all those years.Thank You. GW's Cindy.
I wonder why this wasn't mentioned or brought up to UM. It was a pretty vital clue in the case. Now there seems to be no suspect at all.

I wonder why this wasn't mentioned or brought up to UM. It was a pretty vital clue in the case. Now there seems to be no suspect at all.


Well maybe when Unsolved comes back in the fall, they'll have this case updated.

That's amazing that the real Cindy wrote in. What a great insight to things.

That wasn't the Cindy that disappeared and was featured in the segment. That was the Cindy the spraypainted message on the wall was for instead, which was pretty much one of the only main clues in this case.

That wasn't the Cindy that disappeared and was featured in the segment. That was the Cindy the spraypainted message on the wall was for instead, which was pretty much one of the only main clues in this case. Brilliant deduction. Thanks for explaining this to us all. Maybe I should learn to read like you. :p

Since the whole maintenance man theory is out the window I think the most logical scenario for her disappearance that she heard or knew too much about the shady dealings of one of the lawyers at the law firm where she worked. I don't believe there was any sign of forced entry at that law office that morning which probably means she opened the door for someone she knew or someone abducted her that had a key.

Is someone insinuating that lawyers are capable of doing bad things??? :P

I knew Cindy. Went to High School with her. My older sister was very good friends with her. She NEVER would have just taken off. She LOVED her family and her boyfriend. She was a good girl. Just wanted to make that perfectly clear.

She would not have walked away. I knew her. She was not like that. She was very happy with her life.

Then what do you think happened to her?

My, this thread has taken many, many twists and turns. It would be great if we could get somebody from Cindy's family, for example, to post on here, particularly if they know anything about the goings on in the law office which were not above ground.... I'd be interested as to what they believe.

wow very interesting stuff on this thread. This case always stuck with me. Glad to have the spraypainting thing cleared up. I always assumed that the "maintenance man" probably had keys to the building and probably was the culprit. However, I truly believe now that Cindy was probably done in by someone she knew through that law office. The fact that her keys and pocketbook were not found, makes me believe for some reason she left the office with someone she knew and never came back. She probably was reading the book (which i think just happened to be on that page), someone she knew buzzed, she opened the door for them and then the person said let's go somewhere (like breakfast or something to that effect) and she left with that person. No sign of struggle was found in the office.

And the fact that this law office was involved in drugs points to this scenerio even more for me.

With regard to her dreams, I have to think that in some way her own fear of knowing too much about drug running subconsciously affected her sleep in the months leading up to her disappearance. They may have been vivid, as described in the segment, because of the particularity of her relationship to the drug-runners within her workplace and her self-awareness of the implications of that relationship to them. It would not seem likely that she would divulge any specifics to her mother or family if concerned at all about putting her family in danger as a result of a member of said family subsequently contacting authorities.

I've watched this show since I was about 7 or 8 and this is right up there with the most fascinating of cases.

Also, has anyone seen this posting or others similar to it? This was posted by someone alleging to know who Cynthia's killers are, claiming that he has had visions of her for years, only found out of her disappearance in 2006, and last saw here when in the third grade with her in 1970.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.missing-adults/browse_thread/thread/ff8946d365aaffd0?fwc=1

Whether this person is genuine or perpetuating a hoax, still very fascinating nonetheless.

With regard to her dreams, I have to think that in some way her own fear of knowing too much about drug running subconsciously affected her sleep in the months leading up to her disappearance. They may have been vivid, as described in the segment, because of the particularity of her relationship to the drug-runners within her workplace and her self-awareness of the implications of that relationship to them. It would not seem likely that she would divulge any specifics to her mother or family if concerned at all about putting her family in danger as a result of a member of said family subsequently contacting authorities.

I've watched this show since I was about 7 or 8 and this is right up there with the most fascinating of cases.

I agree. She knew stuff was going on, and her fears were realized and lived through her subconscious as she slept. Cindy was leaving for bible college and the people involved in the drug running at the law firm were probably afraid that if she left, being out of their immediate supervision, she would talk and that's probably why she was killed. A person that close to her family I don't see taking off w/o any contact with someone in her family to let them know she was all right, no matter what the danger.

I agree. She knew stuff was going on, and her fears were realized and lived through her subconscious as she slept. Cindy was leaving for bible college and the people involved in the drug running at the law firm were probably afraid that if she left, being out of their immediate supervision, she would talk and that's probably why she was killed. A person that close to her family I don't see taking off w/o any contact with someone in her family to let them know she was all right, no matter what the danger.


She wouldn't have just taken off. This thread has enough evidence in itself to now possibly prove that she had an altercation with jailed drug kingpins Heller or Jose Rodriguez Jr.

She probably knew a lot about the illicit activity going on behind closed doors, and her nightmares probably started after the threatening phone calls and constant drug chatter amongst her co-workers. She probably felt communicating her fears with her family might have brought danger amongst them as well if the employees at work realized they knew, so she kept her mouth shut. She was probably not killed anywhere near the firm like the segment theorized, but more likely lured away (possibly to the house mentioned), where she was either killed or held captive.

I always felt the mysterious caller's scenario was very plausible, much more than the graffiti scenario. The fact that her body was never found could also point more towards the caller's scenario of the side-by-side house abduction. This may have been some sort of dual crackhouse, where one was used for a living compound, and the other used for the illicit drug business.

UM probably stressed more on the graffiti to lay out all possible scenarios, considering at that time they had no knowledge of the drug scandal within the firm (or was purposely hiding it for a lead). Considering the fact that the spray-painted Cindy came forth with her story, she is correct in the sense that the police could have done more digging with the graffiti story and ruled out any possible suspects with the name GW if they wanted to invest the time.

One puzzling thing that still bothers me is if the law firm knew they would be involving themselves in illicit drug activity, why would they hire someone that could potentially obtain knowledge in the firm's wrongdoings? I can understand if they needed to fill the position, but wouldn't they have been more careful with the hiring process if the firm was engaging in unlawful activity?

So her body was never found, but the update said she was definitely murdered and a conviction obtained--or that they at least knew why it was done?

So her body was never found, but the update said she was definitely murdered and a conviction obtained--or that they at least knew why it was done?

There was a "Lifetime exclusive" type update done but for some reason it was only shown a handful of times. I had even seen the episode repeated as recently as a year ago with no such update. A sort of Lifetime "rarity".

If Cindy James were killed as retribution by drug dealers...why hide the body? Wouldn;t they want her body found so as a warning?

IMHO, anyone that would go to those lengths to put a sign saying "I love you Cindy" is either seriously obsessed with her or is trying to throw suspicion on someone who is obsessed with her.,

It's been a while since I posted here. My wife and I are big fans of UM, and this was one of our favorite cases. She let me know about "the real Cindy" posting on GW (thanks so much, Cindy).

I'm not sold on Cindy Anderson being the victim of a drug-related murder. So much of that theory is based on the belief that Cindy must have known intimate details of the drug-running operations that the legal firm she worked for was involved in. I'm not certain about that. My late mother worked as a legal secretary for some years, and she would be the first to admit that she didn't know the lion's share of the details of what went on in her office. Her job was to answer the phone, keep her boss's appointment book, and type form letters...and that was about it. She was about the same age as Cindy when she started working for the law firm, and had about the same education level. I can't imagine that Cindy was asked to do much more than my mother was.

One might say that maybe Cindy overheard something about the drug operations and so she was a target for silencing. Again, I'm not sold. Lawyers take confidentiality pretty seriously even for completely innocuous legal concerns. I doubt they'd be discussing drug transactions in the presence of a third party, even if that third party is a "mere" secretary. Furthermore, Cindy's disappearance occurred in 1981. Neller and Rodriguez weren't arrested until 1994. You'd think anybody sloppy enough to let a third party know about their drug-dealing schemes wouldn't be around for thirteen more years.

The law office where Cindy worked was in a busy strip mall. "The real Cindy" says there was a Pizza Hut within sight of the office. Could Cindy have been forcibly abducted from such a busy place in broad daylight without anyone noticing? I doubt it.

Rodriguez's potential involvement in the disappearance is intriguing but far from proven. Prosecutors weren't even aware of any potential connection until a cellmate claimed that Rodriguez had "boasted" of the murder. Sometimes these jailhouse claims are true, sometimes they're not. Apart from that claim--which a judge threw out as "unreliable"*--there's no evidence that Rodriguez was involved.

To me, the timing just seems too suspicious. We know Cindy Anderson was only a few weeks away from going to a Bible college with her boyfriend, and it was made very obvious that current boyfriend here meant "future husband." It seems to me like a potentially oppressive situation. At home, Cindy had some measure of freedom. After going to the Bible college, that would likely end. I know William Tyndale, and it's the epitome of an "MRS degree college" for most women who attend. Women who go there aren't looking to become ministers or seriously study theology, they're going to become future obedient wives.

I just think Cindy looked at the college, and looked at her future husband, and thought, no. I don't want this. Everyone wants this for me and I've been such a good person but I've seen the other side through my job and I just don't want this. But how do I get out? Everybody I know thinks I'm so perfect and "I love my boyfriend and I'm a good girl" (to paraphrase the friend of Cindy who wrote in here). What do I do?

*By the way, here's the full text of the July 31, 2001 Toledo Blade article referred to earlier.

Mike Anderson still waits for his daughter to walk through the front door.
Since she vanished 20 years ago from a law office where she worked, Anderson has retired from his job, buried two wives, and become a grandfather several times.

But he has never changed the phone number at his home, in part, because his daughter might call.

He'll pick up the phone, he imagines, and hear children in the background.



Hi Dad, she'll say. I've got kids. I'm sorry. I've had amnesia. How are you?
"They tell me I'm crazy," he says, rubbing his hands over a face that has worn too much sadness. "Maybe I am. But what am I supposed to do? Give up? Seems like everyone else has."

It has been 20 years since Cynthia Anderson disappeared. Her fate remains one of Toledo's most intriguing mysteries.

Her smiling face has appeared on flyers worldwide. Her case, which has been on national television, is the longest active Toledo police missing persons case. It fills nearly an entire file cabinet drawer.

"You knew right away that something was wrong," said James Rabbit, the attorney who found his office eerily empty that day. "You knew she wasn't coming back."

Though she was profoundly religious and even a sweetly naive woman, Anderson's final known days were spooked by suspicious calls, an ominously scrawled spray-paint message and even haunting dreams.

It was enough that the normally private woman had an emergency buzzer installed at her desk, and Rabbit instructed her to lock the office doors when she was alone.

Anderson disappeared without a trace - no body, no note, no sign of a struggle.

Even hardened and usually skeptical investigators suspected deadly intentions from the beginning.

"This was a hard-working woman, a woman who went to church, came from a good family, had it all going for her, and then - Bam! - she gets snatched up in broad daylight," said Lt. Rick Reed, a police officer who now oversees the homicide squad.

It was a typically muggy afternoon Aug. 4, 1981, when Rabbit and his partner, Jay Feldstein, arrived for work at their law offices.

The radio was playing and the desks had been readied for the day - all part of the routine they had come to expect from their impeccably responsible but pleasant secretary.

"She looked at her job almost like missionary work," Rabbit recalled. "She felt she was serving people and she wanted to do her best."

Anderson and boyfriend Jeff Lemke, another church member, spoke about marriage. In late August that year, she was to join him for college classes at William Tyndale College in Farmington Hills, Mich.

"She was very happy at the time," Lemke recalled. "She was excited about college, about us."

So when Rabbit and Feldstein arrived at the office that day, they were perplexed - and uneasy - at the sight of the empty office.

The phones were ringing unanswered. Mail had been lodged inside the front-door handle. The secretarys purse and car keys were gone. Her car remained outside.

The doors were locked.

Anderson's romance novel lay open, they noticed, to a page where the heroine is brutally attacked.

The attorneys called out for Anderson. No answer.

Anderson's older sister, Christine Savidge, remembers the call from the lawyers in the middle of the afternoon: Have you heard from Cindy?

"I immediately felt my heart start pounding," she said.

At his job as an air-conditioner repairman, Anderson received a similar call.

He wrapped up his day's work and rushed home to find vehicles - some of them police cars - circling his home.

Inside, his wife, Margaret, was surrounded by friends and family. Prayer chains had been established. The phone rang almost nonstop.

Someone was talking of a reward fund and about posting flyers with his daughter's picture.

The years 1980 and 1981 were among Toledo's bloodiest, so Anderson's fate never lacked speculation.

Two serial murderers, brothers Anthony and Nathaniel Cook, later would be found responsible for nine killings between them. Though they've denied involvement with Anderson, the Cooks never have been ruled out as suspects.

And three weeks before Anderson vanished, Gloria Krouse, a mother of three boys, disappeared while grocery shopping near her home and was found stabbed to death in a Michigan field.

Though the Krouse case never has been officially solved, police say they suspect a murderer now serving time at Chillicothe Correctional Institution for two unrelated slayings. He too hasn't been ruled out a suspect in Anderson's case.

A private detective later linked Miss Anderson's disappearance to a message spray-painted in enormous letters on a wall at the shopping center where she worked: "I love you, Cindy."

The message was signed with the initials of a now-deceased maintenance man who worked nearby.

The closest police ever thought they were to closing the Anderson case occurred with the 1995 arrest of drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. and his attorney, Richard Neller. Neller worked with the law firm when Anderson disappeared.

Federal prosecutors suggested the secretary was abducted and murdered after she overheard conversations about an ongoing drug conspiracy involving the two men.

A jailhouse snitch testified that Rodriguez told him he'd killed Anderson with a 9mm handgun - evidence a judge later ruled not reliable.

Though both men were convicted on drug charges, neither was convicted in Anderson's disappearance.

Twenty years later Anderson's face still haunts Bill Adams, the detective assigned her file. He worked the case nearly round-the-clock.

On days off, he searched ravines and even sewer tunnels for clues. He joined the family on an episode of the television program "Unsolved Mysteries."

"I used to think of her every day ... even after I retired," he said. "Even now, when they discover a body, I think maybe it's Cindy."

Savidge isn't sure she wants to know. She isn't convinced that knowing would be any less terrible.

"Really, how would that be easier to know the awful details?" she said from her West Virginia home.

Their mother died in 1983 and was buried on what would have been Cindy's birthday.

Anderson has refused to hold a memorial service or have his daughter declared legally dead even though such a move would release thousands of dollars in money the family had tucked away for her college fund.

"I havent come to that point yet," Anderson said. "I expect that phone to ring at any time. Maybe this afternoon."

Thanks for posting that. Wow, I thought due to the update that her death was much more accepted than that. Perhaps the update gave the false impression of something having happened which was never actually proven, and that was why it was not repeated.

Thanks for posting that. Wow, I thought due to the update that her death was much more accepted than that. Perhaps the update gave the false impression of something having happened which was never actually proven, and that was why it was not repeated.

Okay, I've never seen the update. Can someone give me the scoop, please? Thanks a bunch.

I remember this case quite well. It was one that freaked me out for a while. If I remember correctly she had a dream about being attacked and kidnapped. Need I say more?!?! The spray painting also was a tad bit too scary. :eek:
ddelta, I agree with your idea about her being taken by someone she knew. It was all perfectly planned.

Yes, her precognitive dream of being not just attacked, but murdered, adds fuel to the theory that she knew something she shouldn't. Being in possession of such knowledge, she would naturally be fearful and suffer nightmares among other symptoms.

Dear Cynthia,

Thank you for contacting UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. We appreciate you updating us about the Cynthia Anderson story. Unfortunately, this is the first time we have been notified, and we have already delivered that show to Spike and it is too late to change it. However, if you would like, we are able to alter the story on the web page. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

The UNSOLVED MYSTERIES Staff


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: A message from Cynthia Betz arrived
From: Cynthia Betz <xxxx@xxx.xx.xxx>
Date: Sun, January 04, 2009 2:29 pm
To: Webmaster <tncao@yahoo.com>, Webmaster <unsolvedtips@unsolved.com>

Dear webmaster,

Cynthia Betz has just filled-in the contact form. Please find submitted data below:


date/time: January 4, 2009, 2:29 pm
name: Cynthia Betz
email: xxxxx@xxx.xx.xxx
phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
victim: Cynthia Anderson
story: Cynthia Anderson/Toledo Ohio
additional: It really bothers me that you still have the "GW" part of the story included. The part about the spray painting. My name is Cindy Betz. At the time, my name was Cindy Jones. GW was Greg Wiczynski. He spray painted I Love You Cindy, on everything from overpasses, garages, and the walls at the Manhattan Plaza where Cindy Anderson worked. They were for me, not her. I went into the Army from 1981-1985.When I was in Germany, Greg was killed in a motorcycle accident. You can verify this in the Toledo Blade newspaper .He died September 27,1983.He was only 20 years old. He was the love of my life. After returning from the Army, I seen the original Unsolved Mysteries. I was flabbergasted when I seen the spray painting part of the story. I contacted the show and the next day, Detective Kulakowski came to my house. I gave him letters from Greg to me with the handwriting that was identical, for proof. On the letters was the same I Love You Cindy, GW. and GW and CJ forever. He chastised me for not letting them know who GW was earlier. I was in the Army and knew nothing of this. I told him that the handwriting was also inside of the walls where a Fashion Bug was being built and Cynthia Anderson could not possibly have seen it .If it were for her, why would it be anywhere she could not see? He acknowledged I was correct and said they did not put that information out there. Since it was in places she could not see, any good detective could have possibly opened their mind to the fact that maybe the messages were not for her and checked the neighborhood. All they had to do was cross the street(Manhattan Blvd) and go down the first alley. This was Greg's alley and there were plenty of GW love Cindy's spray painted on garages. They were also on overpasses .He would get out of the car and run up the embankment and lean over and spray paint upside down. They could have asked any teenage kid in the neighborhood who GW was and they would have told them .I am irate because I feel this is left in this story for ratings but the love of my life is being disrespected. I still have plenty of letters from him with the same handwriting and initials that were on the wall. This should also be in a file somewhere that Detective Kulakowski filed. GW was my GW, not some crazy abductor and I am proud to be his Cindy. Toledo Police dropped the ball on this with narrow mindedness and not doing very good detective work. Since these messages were clearly on the inside of the unfinished Fashion Bug building where nobody could see it, they should have entertained the fact that maybe the messages were not for her and maybe found the real culprits .Instead, they tried to blame me for all the time spent of looking for GW's. I was in the Army defending my country and we were in love teenagers who never knew who Cynthia Anderson was or even that there was a law office there. We hung out at the plaza because of the Pizza Hut and when the workers left for the day, we went into the unfinished building to "hang out. "That's what teenagers do. This story needs to be updated with the fact that the spray painting had nothing to do with the story. I would be glad to send copies of my letters with postmarks to anywhere you want to send them for handwriting analysis. I believe good journalism should contain the truth, not just exciting possibilities to make a story more juicy. Thank You for Your Time. Proud to be GW's "REAL" Cindy.

Yes, Please alter the story on your web page. The fact that the Toledo Police never updated you just makes me more upset at how bad they botched this case. I feel sorry for her family because if they would have only realized since these messages were painted where Cynthia Anderson couldn't see them, they probably weren't for her, and only bothered to check around the neighborhood, maybe they could have taken off their blinders and been hotter on the trail of the real suspects.Looking at your web page makes me cry at that idiot painting my initials on it. It makes Greg out like some pervert and it is disgraceful since I gave the police all the evidence they needed to prove my case. I believe they maybe a little embarassed they didn't do better detective work. PLEASE restore my love's respect and our memories as well. I love your show but do not want to even look at the page as it makes me cry.Very Respectfully Yours, Cynthia Betz.
----- Original Message -----
From: unsolvedtips@unsolved.com
To: Cynthia Betz
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 7:06 PM
Subject: RE: A message from Cynthia Betz arrived

OMG! The whole time they were looking for the mysterious "GW", they knew that the messages to Cindy had been written in places where the victim could not possibly be expected to view them?

That totally blows the theory that he was painting "I Love Cindy Anderson" signs right in her path so she'd be sure to see them.

Why didn't they stop to think that there could be more than one Cindy in a city the size of Toledo in 1980? Cindy was probably one of the top 10 most popular names for that generation.

Edited to add that I looked it up on baby center dot com and in 1961, the year Cindy was born (I think) "cindy" was number 8 on the top 10 list.

The top ten in the US were:

1 Mary
2 Lisa
3 Susan
4 Linda
5 Karen
6 Patricia
7 Donna
8 Cynthia
9 Sandra
10 Deborah

Yes, and the name "Anderson" was NEVER on any of the messages. Only "Cindy".

That's right Cinthiab. If the messages had said "I love you Cindy A" then I think they could have been considered more as a clue in her case.

But all GW wrote to you in those signs was your first name. The police were acting like the signs had Cindy Anderson's full name in them and were meant only for her, when obviously, they were written in places she couldn't see them. AND they just said the first name of Cindy. Imagine how many girls named Cindy lived in that area at the time. Those signs could have been for anyone!

Since the notes were written in places the victim could not see them, that should have been the huge clue to the cops that these signs were for a different Cindy and they should try to find out who she was. That would easily eliminate those signs as being connected to the case and would have cleared that poor maintenance man whose initials were GW from suspicion.

I think it's awful that the maintenance man has been allowed (even after death) to be linked to this case as a suspect for so many years, just because of his initials, when neither he, nor the signs with those initials had anything to do with Cindy Anderson's case.

Pretty weird we can sit here and figure it out when "detectives" can't, huh? I guess I was wrong about one thing though. I could have swore that after I called Unsolved Mysteries and got interviewed by the detective, they updated the show. I could have swore that part was left out next time I seen it.I guess since I found it, flipping through channels and missed part of it, maybe I just missed that part of the segment. I gave the detective letters Greg had written me when I was in the Army. They CLEARLY have the same "I Love You Cindy" on them. They also have "GW" on them because he also wrote "GW+CJ".Anyone looking at the handwriting on the wall can clearly see the same person wrote this. That was so long ago but now I'm getting a little angry. The detective actually had the nerve to act mad at me for not contacting them earlier.He said they spent years looking for GW's. I didn't know anything about this and called as soon as I did.We attended Woodward High School a few blocks away. Especially since it was written inside of Fashion Bug's walls where Cynthia Anderson couldn't see, it looks like a good detective would realize a teenager probably did it. If they didn't want to bother to interview the neighborhood, couldn't they at least have obtained a copy of the yearbook from the neighborhood high school and possibly looked for GW's? I just recently found out that obviously the Toledo Police didn't bother updating Unsolved Mysteries. I'm not sure if it's because they realize how bad they botched the investigation, and they didn't want to admit it,or does the whole "GW" scenario make the case much more fascinating so they choose to leave it in there? Irregardless, as you can see, Unsolved Mysteries said they will update their website.We'll find out.As i mentioned in an earlier post, I feel sorry for her family. They wasted so much time focusing on something that had nothing to do with the case, that the real "perps" slipped away. I don't want to sound creepy but "Cindy still loves GW" and always will.

Well, I'm sorry for what happened to your bf and his untimely passing. I am also sad that you were hounded by police. I also apologize to the late maintenance man's family for suspecting him. Now that this account has come forward everything makes more sense. The whole GW thing had nothing to do with this case. I feel bad for the maintenance man as he passed away several years ago and he was a suspect in this case for the remainder of his life and he had nothing to do with it. What I find strange is how the detective in this case had time to chase after every GW in Toledo yet did not have the time to check to see everywhere in one specific section of Toledo to see if there were two houses side by side owned by the same family. It is obvious this case was a bungled investigation from the start.

Thank You. I agree with everything you said. I feel very bad for the maintenance man and his family. The weird part is, my boyfriend Greg was VERY popular. How many teenage boys have motorcycles? His nickname was "Farmer". With all the GW's painted on everything in the neighborhood only across the street, all they had to do was ask one kid who GW was and they would have told them..........

Cynthiab,

They are showing this segment right now on spike. They haven't removed any info about the sign painted on a wall near Cindy's work that said "I Love You Cindy, GW". They said it stayed up for 6 months and was placed in such a way that it faced her window at the office so she had to sit at her desk and look at it every day.

Then, her sister said that no other woman in that strip mall was named Cindy, so that sign must have been for Cindy Anderson. Apparently, no one thought about the Pizza Hut in that complex, and how many girls named Cindy were customers there who would have seen that sign. Unbelievable!

And finally, I got to see Cindy A's dad being interviewed and saying how she was wearing make up and skipping breakfast, becoming somewhat of a "debuatant" and how that could have been "part of the problem".

WTH? Beautiful women are abducted and murdered, plain looking women are abducted and murdered, old women, young women, fat women, skinny women, children, boys, women wearing mini skirts, women wearing bikinis, women wearing full length winter coats that don't show any skin at all, and even MEN have been abducted, raped and killed!

Where in the world does her dad get the idea the Cindy wearing make up and skipping breakfast, all of a sudden makes her irresistable prey to a kidnapper. Even if this was a sex realated abduction/rape/murder, she could have been wearing no make up at all, been dressed in a granny house coat, had her hair in curlers and babushka, and she STILL could have been kidnapped and assaulted. Those rapist/murderers don't care, they're just looking for someone to victimize.

Ugh! Cindy's dad really made me mad when I listened to him being interviewed.

I still stand by my original theory that Cindy Anderson left of her own free will. There's a lot about this story that just doesn't sit right with me. I grew up in a very conservative town and I knew a number of girls likes Cindy...girls who once they started stretching their wings (making friends, getting jobs, wearing makeup) met with repercussions. I think Cindy staged the disappearance and left the area on her own -- but possibly with the help of a friend.

I really think she saw life as an obedient wife staring at her and couldn't go through with it, and left.

TracyLynnS: Thanks so much for the update. I'm glad I didn't see it, I probably would have thrown something at my tv. We didn't even know there was a law office there. He simply painted it where EVERYONE could see it. As soon as they would paint over it, he would do it again. I suppose they didn't bother to mention that it was also painted inside the walls of the Fashion Bug being built, where she definetely couldn't see it, did they? I'm waiting a few days to check the Unsolved Mystery site to see if they really are going to update it. Thanks again.

I do not believe she left on her own. I believe she was abducted & then murdered. I think she knew too much that was going on at that law office or she found out something she was not suppose to know. I think her getting the certain phone calls that seemed to frighten her have something to do with her dissapearence.

I still stand by my original theory that Cindy Anderson left of her own free will. There's a lot about this story that just doesn't sit right with me. I grew up in a very conservative town and I knew a number of girls likes Cindy...girls who once they started stretching their wings (making friends, getting jobs, wearing makeup) met with repercussions. I think Cindy staged the disappearance and left the area on her own -- but possibly with the help of a friend.

I really think she saw life as an obedient wife staring at her and couldn't go through with it, and left.

I don't know. I respect your opinion, but I just think it's odd that she hasn't turned up in all the years since then. Not to mention the obviously shady activities that were going on at that law firm.

Regarding theory that Cindy left her oppressive religious environment and the life of a dutiful, servant wife that she knew awaited her....

I could be opening a big can of controversial worms here, but I myself am a very religious christian, and have traveled in circles and/or been acquainted with the type of people like Cindy's father, who take it to the extreme.

In fact, I'm so deeply religious and strict, that I homeschooled my kids their whole lives. They are now 21 and 19 years old, hold full time jobs, and once we recover from our job losses (michigan auto economy) and the loss of our home and all our money (michigan everything economy), we will be sending both kids to college. Better late than never...

I was never one of those crazy controlling religious zealots. As my kids got older, their freedoms progessively increased, until they became self sufficient adults. I think that's the normal way that it's supposed to be.

I have seen far too many of these very strict religious families drive their children away through micomanaging every detail of the child's life. I know teens who's days are scheduled from 6:00am until bedtime, which includes practicing the 6 musical instruments for which they take lessons, and the sports teams they play on and coach. These activities are at the mother's insitence, not the childs.

I know a teen who is frisked by his parents everytime he leaves the house. When he is gone, they go through his room looking for anything incriminating. Just a few days ago, they found out that he had experimented and drank one beer (he's 19) and they through him out of the house. No job, no money, not college, no nothing. Are they too lazy to use his mistake as an opportunity to express their concerns about his safety, the legalities of underage drinking, and teach him how to learn from his mistake and become a more mature and responsible individual? I guess so.

The list goes on and on. And this negative outcome is predictable every single time. Teens are kids becoming adults. You have to let them have increases in their independence as they get older. And the ones who are the most tightly controlled are the ones who absolutely go hog wild when they rebel. They jump feet first into it all. Drinking, drugs, sex, everything.

Where if they had been allowed some normal amount of freedom, they may have been exposed to these things and their negative effects and decided it wasn't what they wanted to be involved with. Or they may have experimented with those things, and then the parents could step in and correct the child for abusing his freedoms, which he would have to earn again by proving that he can act responsibly.

But girls like Cindy, controlled by an iron fisted father, usually marry the first guy who comes along, just to escape the home environment. And most times, the husband turns out to be as bad or worse than the ultra controlling father.

Well, I've written a book here, but my point is, if Cindy ran away, it was a predictable outcome. And her father should have known better. He's supposed to be a Christian. The bible states plainly: Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

So there you have it right there. God tells fathers not to raise their kids in such a way that it will make them angry, but to nurture them with love, and admonish and correct them as necessary.

They wasted so much time focusing on something that had nothing to do with the case, that the real "perps" slipped away. I don't want to sound creepy but "Cindy still loves GW" and always will.

Cythiab: Even all these years later, I am very sorry for your loss. I can't even begin to imagine. The fact that it was, and still is, incorrectly part of the UM story on Cindy Anderson makes it all that much worse. I am truly sorry and it is a shame that haven't fixed the story.

As for the Cindy Anderson case, it always bothered me. I can see why she might wanted to have run away from it all but I really think she was abducted and murdered. Sad in either result. :(

Todd Mueller: Thank You Very Much for your kind words and understanding. Hopefully, they'll update the site soon.-CynthiaB

To All of You who listened to my story, lended your support and gave me beautiful words of encouragement, I want to say "Thank You". Well, it's somewhat over. I can't say Greg, or the poor Maintenance man have been vindicated but Unsolved Mysteries updated the site as promised. It's kind of weird how they left alot of the story out about the goings on at the law office she worked at,however. I believe it's fairly uncommon for attorneys to be arrested and disbarred for illegal drug activity and everything else Richard Neller was arrested for.To me, that kind of jumps out like possible involvement with the Cynthia Anderson case. I always believe if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck............. All I can say is thank you for listening and for your support.To my beloved Greg,you know I have your back and would have fought for you to the end. To the Toledo Police, I'm sorry but, you dropped the ball on this one. And last but definetely not least, "Peace Be With You" to the poor Maintenance man who was a suspect until his death, and Cynthia herself, wherever she may be. GW's Cindy.

Wow, reading this thread with all of its twists and turns has been fascinating. Cindy, I am sorry for your loss those many years ago; and also very sorry you were treated so shabbily by the Toledo police. "Why did you wait so long to come forward?," they accusingly asked you. Oh, just because you were off serving your country and knew nothing about it! It seems to me like it was displaced anger because they had focused for so long on the wrong thing, when there were clues staring them right in the face to indicate that the spraypainting never was connected to her disappearance (e.g., the spraypainting in areas where Cynthia never would have seen it). I'm also pretty pissed at the police for not updating UM on this development, as they clearly knew about it. I can't imagine that UM didn't ask the local police for any updates on the story before they reaired the thing on Spike.

I am with those who believe she walked away from her life. For me, there are three main points that lead me to this conclusion. First, the combination of her dreams about being kidnapped and the novel being open to the page about an abduction. I believe she made up the dreams and left the novel open to that page so that people would believe she was abducted. Second, the fact that she was clearly starting to "rebel" against her father and the strict religious upbringing he imposed on her. Third, that she was just two weeks away from going to that bible college with her boyfriend. I believe she felt like she was on the precipice of this life, and she didn't want to go there. I'm not sure if she left on her own or with another man she had met, but I very strongly believe she left on her own.

I don't think it means anything that she hasn't contacted her family in all these years. For one thing, can you imagine how angry the community would be with her if she called in and said, "Oh, don't worry about me. I just left on my own."? How many hundreds or thousands of police hours, taxpayer dollars, and volunteer hours have been spent looking for her? Also, if she truly wanted a clean break, then it would not be strange for her to never contact them again. It's also quite possible, as an earlier poster mentioned, that she has since died of illness or accident.

I don't put much stock in the "she knew too much" theory. That's a "sexier" theory, certainly, but there doesn't seem to be any reliable evidence to support it. There was no sign of struggle in the office and no witnesses in a busy strip mall saw anything unusual. I suppose she could have been lured away by someone she knew, but again, there's just nothing to support that. As for the jailhouse snitch, it sounds to me like the dude got a break on his bad behavior once for ratting out a confessed murderer, and so, when he got in trouble again, he decided to do make one up so he could catch the same break. He certainly doesn't sound like a credible person to me.

Finally, I just wanted to add that I send my condolences to the loved ones of GW, the maintenance man, who was wrongfully suspected, and no doubt whispered about in the community all these years. I think it is absolutely shameful that the Toledo police, in a seeming effort to hide the fact that they had gone down a rabbit trail, continued to let the suspicions about this man live on. I wonder if they even bothered to tell his family about Cindy's information. It certainly doesn't sound like it.

Yuppielawyer, Thank You for your kind words and understanding. You know, the more I think about it, the madder I get. I fought for my GW, but what about the other GW? I don't know what he died of but I can imagine being a suspect in a major missing person investigation probably took a few years off his life. If the Toledo Police didn't bother updating UM, I'm quite sure they didn't update the family of GW (the Maintenance Man).They couldn't have had any evidence on this poor man since my boyfriend was GW and I am the Cindy the message was for.The only connection was his misfortune of having the initials that matched the initials on a wall. What idiot would plan the abduction of someone from a crowded strip mall, and leave their initials knowing they worked in same said strip mall?? I know for a fact these initials were up for quite some time. If they were so concerning, couldn't they have begun an investigation before she were abducted? I know the statue of limitations would probably be expired from the date of the beginning of the investigation. However, since they just aired an update this year,if they mentioned him, wouldn't this be the beginning of a whole new time line?Along with opening the wounds all over for this family?This whole thing is crazy that I just happened to mention this whole story to my son and got involved in this just before UM was revived. I never even knew they were bringing it back. I always believe things happen for a reason. I got my GW somewhat cleared by the UM website being updated, but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to help this other family get some vindication? An apology from the police maybe? This horrible accusation has hung over this family for many years with no closure.I just know this family probably knows nothing of this since the police didn't even bother updating the show. I think even this thread would be enough to help them.I'm presuming you are an attorney? Do you have any suggestions to lead me on the correct path to help this family? I still have every letter my GW wrote to me when I was in the Army.The handwriting can be proven.The Toledo Police were supplied with letters twenty years ago when I came forward.The investigation has to have my information included. Of course I would understand if you don't have any comment but I can't help but feel this whole thing was maybe meant for some help for this poor family.Thank You Once Again, CynthiaB.

Cynthia, I think the most effective way to get the word out to his family would probably be to contact the media--television, newspaper, etc. I can't imagine that they wouldn't be interested in this--her disappearance was a big local story, it allows them to exonerate a man long under suspicion, and it's got some police incompetence thrown in there. Please keep us posted here on the results. I think it would be a wonderful thing for it to finally be out in the open in that community that this poor maintenance man most certainly had nothing to do with Cindy's disappearance.

Yuppielawyer, Thank You Very Much for the suggestion. I am going to make copies of everything and see what I can do. I surely will keep you posted if anything comes of this. Thanks again. CynthiaB.

OK, I just watched the case again, and I noticed something strange. Cindy's father comes off as very suspicious. First off, when he was interviewed, he would sometimes look the other way in a guilty/uncomfortable manner. Secondly, I didn't like how calm he was. It's one thing to be in control of one's emotions, but the way he smirked at the end of the interview was really creepy. It almost implied, 'yeah I killed her, and you won't find her body.'

Yeah, I think there are quite a few of us here who get that same freaky vibe from the dad.

edited to add that I just re-read the whole thread. I came across this comment that I made a while back, after watching the segment:

>>>And finally, I got to see Cindy A's dad being interviewed and saying how she was wearing make up and skipping breakfast, becoming somewhat of a "debuatant" and how that could have been "part of the problem".<<<

Looks like from watching the segment, I got the impression that her father was blaming her for tarting herself up and just asking to be victimized by some crazy rapist/killer.

This case continues to intrigue me a great deal. I never thought much about the father before until coming on here and now his comments bother me much more than before. He said she was becoming a sort of debutante and that may have been part of the "problem"- what problem? How could that have something to do with her disappearence? It definitely did seem he was implying she was making herself an easy target due to this.

Once I paused the segment on the pages of her book (it was a pretty dramatic abduction scene) and though it was probably a coincidence, it just seems like TOO much of a coincidence. Just odd. I wonder what book that was, also, just another random thought.

I've always thought it seemed like foul play. She had a boyfriend, dedications, and some plans (wasn't she going to be entering college with her boyfriend?). She was also have serious apprehensions about phone calls, strange declaratons, and dreams. Such an odd case.

Time to revisit this case. Does anyone think that perhaps Cindy's father possibly put a hit on Cindy? I get the idea that her father was controlling, and wanted to Cindy to remain a so called "devout Christian." Cindy seemed to be moving away from her father's wishes. Perhaps he hired someone to kill her.

One thing to note about this case, I thought it was strange that Cindy had a button on her desk that alerted the people next door if she was in trouble. Why didn't she use it? My only guess is that someone she trusted killed her. Perhaps luring Cindy into his/her car.

[QUOTE=Zlatko]Time to revisit this case. Does anyone think that perhaps Cindy's father possibly put a hit on Cindy? I get the idea that her father was controlling, and wanted to Cindy to remain a so called "devout Christian." Cindy seemed to be moving away from her father's wishes. Perhaps he hired someone to kill her.


Why go so far as to put a hit out on her? Why not just disown her and have nothing more to do with her???

[quote=Zlatko]Time to revisit this case. Does anyone think that perhaps Cindy's father possibly put a hit on Cindy? I get the idea that her father was controlling, and wanted to Cindy to remain a so called "devout Christian." Cindy seemed to be moving away from her father's wishes. Perhaps he hired someone to kill her.


Why go so far as to put a hit out on her? Why not just disown her and have nothing more to do with her???

Exactly. Why waste the money, risk and effort to kill her? I believe she was of legal age. She can technically be kicked out of his home.

I think too many people are looking into that one interview and drawing too many conclusions. To me he just seemed like an uptight person who believed that if Cindy had followed the righteous path she would not have run into the person that did this to her. I don't sense any criminal intent in his words.

I also don't see him hiring someone to kill her. I think it's more likely he would have done it himself.

[QUOTE]

Exactly. Why waste the money, risk and effort to kill her? I believe she was of legal age. She can technically be kicked out of his home.

I think too many people are looking into that one interview and drawing too many conclusions. To me he just seemed like an uptight person who believed that if Cindy had followed the righteous path she would not have run into the person that did this to her. I don't sense any criminal intent in his words.

I also don't see him hiring someone to kill her. I think it's more likely he would have done it himself.Like I said, Cindy's father could have been the type who hates the idea of anyone opposing their rule. The main reason I suspected him is because that sort of behavior is uncommon in ultra religious families. The father often has the last say. He could put a hit on her, or simply killed her himself. However, I'm not dead set on Cindy's father being the one who killed Cindy. There are other potential killers.

In the case, Cindy supposedly was receiving phone calls which scared her. That probably was the reason why she had a button installed in her desk. It sounds like Cindy had a stalker, but the question is why didn't she say anything?

I just watched this case for the second time. Perhaps it's already been said, but I think this may have been a hit to scare one of the attorneys. The novel being open to a page where someone is abducted is too much of a coincidence. If you read romance novels, I think its rare for a character to be kidnapped brutally, usually the novels are about escapism. For someone to have it turned to that page when Cindy disappeared is like saying, you will be next. I wonder if the police ever followed up with the clue that the person owned two houses next door to each other. There can't have been that many duel residences...

Wow...I gotta catch up on this thread!!

In the case, Cindy supposedly was receiving phone calls which scared her. That probably was the reason why she had a button installed in her desk. It sounds like Cindy had a stalker, but the question is why didn't she say anything?

1.Because the stalker said he would kill her if she said anything.
2. If it's drug dealers that she knows are threating her, it behooves her to not say anything.
3. I don;t think she would be frightened of threating calls from her father.

Like I said, Cindy's father could have been the type who hates the idea of anyone opposing their rule. The main reason I suspected him is because that sort of behavior is uncommon in ultra religious families. The father often has the last say. He could put a hit on her, or simply killed her himself. However, I'm not dead set on Cindy's father being the one who killed Cindy. There are other potential killers.

Her father and mother would have been the first people extensively interviewed by the police. I have to imagine the police asked him what his alibi was. (granted his alibi might have been his wife) I also have to imagine the house was searched as well.

The novel being open to a page where someone is abducted is too much of a coincidence. If you read romance novels, I think its rare for a character to be kidnapped brutally, usually the novels are about escapism.

If Cindy was reading the book, there is a chance she hasn't read it before. Would she really know the exact page where the violent scene occurs. I mean think about it. It's like a person reading Return of the King and trying to turn to the page were Gollum falls into the cracks of Doom. (sorry, couldn;t resits the LOTR reference. :cool: )

The book is really not evidence in my opinion since it neither proves nor disproves anything. It could be a coincidence or it could be a warning. No way to find out.

I wonder if the police ever followed up with the clue that the person owned two houses next door to each other

1. It's possible that this could be a false lead by her assailants to throw the police.
2. It's also possible the residence in question may not be in the city area. It could be in another county or even state.
3. I wonder if the call could have been from Cindy herself. Wasn't it a women that had called? Did they mention this?

Yeah the book is clearly just a coincidence. I don't believe the father had anything to do with it, you could see the sadness in his face when he was talking about her.

It has to be something to do with the drug deal, it's unbelievable that nothing came of it.

I still don't rule out the Cindy's father. There's something about him that strikes me as being so unsympathetic/indifferent towards his daughter's disappearance. Also, his comment about Cindy spending too much time on her appearance was very inappropriate considering she's missing.

About the drug deal theory, how come others weren't affected? So, one girl is potentially dead and that's all? No, there would be more to it. Plus, she was a secretary. Why would they want to intimidate just her?

The stalker theory has some weight to it. Although, I wonder if there's more evidence to it.

About the drug deal theory, how come others weren't affected? So, one girl is potentially dead and that's all? No, there would be more to it. Plus, she was a secretary. Why would they want to intimidate just her?

1. Your assuming others were not affected. For all we know, these drug deals visited and intimidited the others. Those that got intimidated may not have notified authorities or anyone else.

2. There's a theory among loan sharks and drug dealers that most "borrower" do not mind violence done on themselves. What's a broken arm or leg if you can stall payment? That's why what they tend to do is threaten people other than the "borrower". Family, friends, co-workers...even pets. a person is more likely to take your threat seriously if others are being threatened. Killing Cindy would send a clear message that if they're willing to kill an innocent co-worker, just think about what we would do to your wife.

3. Killing a family member that early in the game, might prompt the victim to go to the police. The killing of an unconnected person gets the message across but still doesn't make the situation dire enough for the victim.

The stalker theory has some weight to it. Although, I wonder if there's more evidence to it.

It isn't GW. It seems as if that theory has run it's course. That still doesn't mean that there isn't some other person who is a stalker. This person would have to be someone she met at the bank, since the call was made to her workplace. I would think there would be someone who knew of a someone who was harassing her.

One theory I have is that one of these drug dealers stalked Cindy.

1. Your assuming others were not affected. For all we know, these drug deals visited and intimidited the others. Those that got intimidated may not have notified authorities or anyone else.

2. There's a theory among loan sharks and drug dealers that most "borrower" do not mind violence done on themselves. What's a broken arm or leg if you can stall payment? That's why what they tend to do is threaten people other than the "borrower". Family, friends, co-workers...even pets. a person is more likely to take your threat seriously if others are being threatened. Killing Cindy would send a clear message that if they're willing to kill an innocent co-worker, just think about what we would do to your wife.

3. Killing a family member that early in the game, might prompt the victim to go to the police. The killing of an unconnected person gets the message across but still doesn't make the situation dire enough for the victim.



It isn't GW. It seems as if that theory has run it's course. That still doesn't mean that there isn't some other person who is a stalker. This person would have to be someone she met at the bank, since the call was made to her workplace. I would think there would be someone who knew of a someone who was harassing her.

One theory I have is that one of these drug dealers stalked Cindy.It's not just the threats, why weren't others abducted or potentially murdered? These drug dealers would have to be pretty fearless to abduct Cindy. One would think that others would be abducted. Although, I'm only inferring from what I saw on UM. ;)

About the drug dealers stalking Cindy, why go through the time consumption of stalking Cindy? Why not just killer her, take an item of hers, and show it to the borrower? It's simple and straight to the point. Drug dealers don't usually toy around with people by stalking them. They go straight for the jugular.

About the drug dealers stalking Cindy, why go through the time consumption of stalking Cindy? Why not just killer her, take an item of hers, and show it to the borrower? It's simple and straight to the point. Drug dealers don't usually toy around with people by stalking them. They go straight for the jugular.

1. How do we know the drug dealers did't show proof? This proof may just not have been shown to the police, due to the drug angle.

2.If the drug dealers told that they would take or hurt Cindy, the fact that she's missing is proof enough.

3. Keep in mind that murdering people brings about police activity. There plan may have been to just mess around with her. They can't just keep killing people all over the place with connections to the same firm.

It's not just the threats, why weren't others abducted or potentially murdered? These drug dealers would have to be pretty fearless to abduct Cindy. One would think that others would be abducted. Although, I'm only inferring from what I saw on UM

How do we know that the drug dealers didn't get there point across with Cindy's abduction? Maybe they received payment or whatever directly after Cindy's disappearance.

Hi, It's been a long time since I posted here but I'm always lurking around. This post has gotten rather muddled. I think the following scenario is pretty accurate:

Some very sleazy dealings were going on in the law firm where Cindy was employed. She stumbled upon some information inadvertently or overheard a meeting or put two and two together. Maybe she went in early one day to prepare the office stumbled upon several kilos of cocaine in a lawyer's desk. Whatever, she discovered what was going on there.

They decide they cannot deal with this risk and decide to "eliminate" Cindy for 2 reasons: 1. She can't squeal on them this way. 2. To send a message to others that they can easily make people "disappear" without a trace.

The business about her premonitions may very well have been real. The business about "I love you Cindy" (covered at indigent length earlier) is a sad and bizarre coincidence.

I've already posted earlier about how a jailhouse snitch who provided correct information on several other cases named a lawyer in her law office. If memory serves me correct, he was actually ready to plea but the judge threw it out on a technicality.

In my mind, we know what happened to Cindy. It didn't have anything to do with her dad or her running away from her background.

Still, 2 things trouble me:

1. You would think one of her sisters or boyfriend would post here about their thoughts or experiences.

2. Why do the police give such credence to the phone call they received? This really troubles me. Police receive many, many tips which turn out to be crap. They really, really seemed to center on this one female caller and explored her info about Cindy being held on a certain street (you can find the name online, or perhaps it was even mentioned in the episode?) - I think it is the name of a tree - like Sycamore or something - in the basement of a white house and there are two houses side by side owned by a married couple who is out of town and Cindy is being held by their son.

I mean, I'm sure the police get a lot of calls but this one really sounds like a doozy to me. Why even believe it, why not just dismiss it as a crank? I think that the caller knew more than the police are letting onto or dropped other pieces of information which had not been released or something. Otherwise, there is no basis whatsoever to believe the tipster's call, much less spend many hours checking it out, driving on that street looking for the two houses.

It doesn't make any sense to me but, going back to the original intent of my post, it wasn't her father, she didn't flea her Christian background, she was the target of a hit, I think it is pretty fair to say.

Hi, It's been a long time since I posted here but I'm always lurking around. This post has gotten rather muddled. I think the following scenario is pretty accurate:

Some very sleazy dealings were going on in the law firm where Cindy was employed. She stumbled upon some information inadvertently or overheard a meeting or put two and two together. Maybe she went in early one day to prepare the office stumbled upon several kilos of cocaine in a lawyer's desk. Whatever, she discovered what was going on there.

They decide they cannot deal with this risk and decide to "eliminate" Cindy for 2 reasons: 1. She can't squeal on them this way. 2. To send a message to others that they can easily make people "disappear" without a trace.

The business about her premonitions may very well have been real. The business about "I love you Cindy" (covered at indigent length earlier) is a sad and bizarre coincidence.

I've already posted earlier about how a jailhouse snitch who provided correct information on several other cases named a lawyer in her law office. If memory serves me correct, he was actually ready to plea but the judge threw it out on a technicality.

In my mind, we know what happened to Cindy. It didn't have anything to do with her dad or her running away from her background.

Still, 2 things trouble me:

1. You would think one of her sisters or boyfriend would post here about their thoughts or experiences.

2. Why do the police give such credence to the phone call they received? This really troubles me. Police receive many, many tips which turn out to be crap. They really, really seemed to center on this one female caller and explored her info about Cindy being held on a certain street (you can find the name online, or perhaps it was even mentioned in the episode?) - I think it is the name of a tree - like Sycamore or something - in the basement of a white house and there are two houses side by side owned by a married couple who is out of town and Cindy is being held by their son.

I mean, I'm sure the police get a lot of calls but this one really sounds like a doozy to me. Why even believe it, why not just dismiss it as a crank? I think that the caller knew more than the police are letting onto or dropped other pieces of information which had not been released or something. Otherwise, there is no basis whatsoever to believe the tipster's call, much less spend many hours checking it out, driving on that street looking for the two houses.

It doesn't make any sense to me but, going back to the original intent of my post, it wasn't her father, she didn't flea her Christian background, she was the target of a hit, I think it is pretty fair to say.I'm not very surprised by that. While it's true people related to victims post here from time to time, some people just don't use the internet, especially if they're from an older generation.

I agree with you about the anonymous call. The call could have very well been a prank by some cruel individual.

One thing I've always wondered about the case is if any of Cindy's family knew she was being harassed before her death. They could have gotten a call intended for Cindy. Just a thought.

2. Why do the police give such credence to the phone call they received? This really troubles me. Police receive many, many tips which turn out to be crap. They really, really seemed to center on this one female caller and explored her info about Cindy being held on a certain street (you can find the name online, or perhaps it was even mentioned in the episode?) - I think it is the name of a tree - like Sycamore or something - in the basement of a white house and there are two houses side by side owned by a married couple who is out of town and Cindy is being held by their son.

I agree with you about the anonymous call. The call could have very well been a prank by some cruel individual.

1. How do you tell a prank call from a legitimate tip? Essentially ANY witness, piece of evidence or source of information can be a prank. A good investigator can't afford to disregard any leads on a case. The core of investigative work is following down leads and seeing if they 'lead" to something.

You ever watch the movie 'Zodiac"? Remember the sequence where the detectives were interviewing all those crackpots who claimed to have info on The Zodiac Killer? That scene happens every day for police officers.

2. The phone call was the best lead they had at the time. It wasn't like they were chasing this lead and blowing off others.

One thing I've always wondered about the case is if any of Cindy's family knew she was being harassed before her death. They could have gotten a call intended for Cindy. Just a thought.

As far as I know, there was no evidence of harassment at Cindy;s home. Only at work. Which is in itself a big clue.;)

Whoever was attacking her only knew of her from work. He didn't know where she lived. Which explains why he abducted her at work rather than near her home or somewhere else.

Yuppielawyer, Thank You Very Much for the suggestion. I am going to make copies of everything and see what I can do. I surely will keep you posted if anything comes of this. Thanks again. CynthiaB.

Was Greg Wiczynski an immigrant?

This probably sounds silly. but it's something that popped into my head. it says her car was still in the parking lot. that her pocketbook was gone. well what about her purse. was it gone too?

I can picture one of her coworkers being buzzed in. and the person asking her out to lunch. and than killing her for whatever reason. just a thought. this could explain why nobody saw her struggling. if she got into a coworker's car to go out to lunch.

Was Greg Wiczynski an immigrant?

:rofl:



He was probably an American of Polish descent, like lots of people from the upper Midwest are. My boyfriend has one of those "-ski" names, too. He's from northern Indiana. :lol:

I think there's some confusion about the door buzzer thingie at Cindy's desk.

Please correct me if I get this wrong....

I don't think she had a button that actually activated the door, but that because of suspicious phone calls she'd been receiving, her employer installed a button she could push that would send a signal to the people in the next office. Sort of like a silent alarm type thing, but the only people she could signal to for help would be next door and possibly not even be in their office at the time she would be pushing the button for help.

Personally, I'm thinking there's something weird about this whole panic button situation. Seems like they installed it specifically for her and it was done only a couple weeks before she was scheduled to resign and leave for school. I'd like more info on when/why the button was installed and what the people in the adjoining office thought about possibly being the recipients of a panic signal from their neighbor's secretary. Were they supposed to come to her rescue if they received a signal, or were they supposed to call the police on her behalf? I wonder what that whole deal was about.

IIRC, Cindy was advised to lock the door to the office when she was alone, but it wasn't required. It's generally assumed that she kept the door locked when she was alone, but it's possible she had left it unlocked for whatever reason.

I used to work in a similar situation, in a medical office located in a small strip mall. Depending on who was expected (my boss or a patient) and when they were expected, I would have the door either locked or unlocked. It completely depended on the specific situation and there was no set schedule for the locking the door. I opened the office at 9am every day and my boss and I were the only employees. The only time that the door was certain to be locked was after 5pm and overnight. I habitually locked the door at 5:00. My family, my boss, and the neighboring bookstore owner knew of that habit. There was no real pattern to whether or not the door would be locked. It varied depending on the circumstances.

If Cindy had similar habits, and she left the door unlocked, either expecting someone to arrive right away or forgetting to lock it, then that would have given anyone access to the office without the necessity of her recognizing a client or friend at the door, buzzing them in (which I don't think she had the ability to do, I think she had to walk to the door and manually unlock it), and then being abducted by someone she knew. If the door was unlocked, everyone had access to the office and that significantly enlarges the pool of potential abductors.

On top of all this, though, wasn't the door found to be locked when Cindy's boss arrived for work that day? That would be weird if she was abducted. Why would a stranger/abductor lock the place after taking her? Locking the door seems more like something that would be done if she'd left, expectd to return, and locked the door while the place was unattended. Anyone remember the details for sure on that? I'm going to go back and read through the thread in a few minutes to see if the info is already here. Anyway, her book was at her desk and she had performed her usual morning duties of delivering the mail to the co-workers offices, so they know she had arrived that day. Her car was still there but she and her purse were the only things missing... do I have that right?

Thinking back to my habits when I was working, I would sometimes step away from the office when no one was expected, lock the door, and take just my purse, just my wallet, just 5 bucks, or sometimes taking nothing at all with me (especially if I was throwing stuff out in the dumpsters out back). Could Cindy have locked up and taken her purse with her to maybe walk over to the pizza place and buy a drink? Then she was taken from the parking lot or something like that, totally unrelated to the lawyer offices? Sorry for rambling, I know we've probably brought this scenario up before.

edited to add more stuff.. I still need to re-read the thread.

I've gone through the thread and answered some of my own questions. Still, I'm undecided on whether she was abducted and murdered or set up her own disappearance. There seems to be a lot of potential evidence for both scenarios.

From reading through here and some other sites, I think everyone has determined that the buzzer at her desk was strictly to alert people in the next office, as a panic button, and not as a device to buzz the door open. There seems to be a bit of difference of opinion on whether the buzzer was installed specifically for Cindy or if it had always been there and UM just wanted to add to the drama of the scary dreams, scary phone calls, and need for a panic button.

The Doe Network says: She had been receiving suspicious calls before she disappeared. Because of that she recently had had an emergency buzzer installed at her desk at work.

The Charley Project site says that Cindy had complained of recurring nightmares of being attacked (no mention that she dreamed of being murdered) and that the "emergency buzzer" was installed in the "summer of 1981". Cindy went missing on 8/4/81.

I'd really like to rewatch this segment and see if UM over did it with all the claims of her premonition-like dreams, or if she really did have frequent, repeating, and frightening dreams of being murdered. I do recall that those scenes in the segment were very dramatic, I just can't remember what they actually stated.

I was having trouble finding out exactly what time of day Cindy was known to be missing. Posts have said everything from "lunch hour" to "early one morning" to "middle of the day". A newspaper article says that she arrived for work in the morning but the lawyers she worked for didn't arrive until the afternoon. Quote: "It was a typically muggy afternoon Aug. 4, 1981, when Rabbit and his partner, Jay Feldstein, arrived for work at their law offices." The lawyers called Cindy's sister in the "middle of the afternoon" asking if she had seen Cindy.

Doe Network says that she had arrived at work before anyone else, done her regular morning tasks and disappeared before her coworkers arrived, but they don't give a time frame. Neither does The Charley Project, which says that when her co-workers arrived they found the radio on and that she had prepared their desks for the day.

More answering my own questions from doenetwork and charleyproject:

When Cindy went missing, the door was found to be locked but the office was empty. There were no signs of a struggle. Her purse and car keys were gone. Her car was still in the parking lot.

She left behind a "substantial amount of money" in the bank and her social security number has had no activity on it.

She kept the office doors locked at all times due to harrassing calls and ominous messages. I'm guess that by "ominous messages" they don't mean voicemail messages but are referring to the now debunked "I love you Cindy. G. W." messages painted around town. I wonder if they really mean "locked at all times" or if they mean "locked when she was alone".

One bit of info that has come up since the original segment is that an informant on a drug dealer testified that the dealer confessed to him that he'd murdered Cindy. That testimony was ruled to be unreliable, but some of his other information he's offered that was unrelated to Cindy's case, has since proven to be reliable. I suppose it's possible that he's telling the truth about Jose Rodriguez (the drug dealer) being Cindy's killer.

The newspaper article posted a few years back in the thread says this: The closest police ever thought they were to closing the Anderson case occurred with the 1995 arrest of drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. and his attorney, Richard Neller. Neller worked with the law firm when Anderson disappeared.

So does that mean Neller was a co-worker of Cindy's at the law firm or was he just some lawyer who had business with her employers Rabbitt and Feldstein? And were those two men her bosses or just co-workers?

One of the lawyers, James Rabbit, that discovered Cindy was missing was quoted in a newspaper article. He said, "You knew right away that something was wrong. YOU KNEW SHE WASN'T COMING BACK."

That comment really seems odd to me. Either the lawyer was being overly dramatic, or he *knew* Cindy wasn't coming back, just like he stated. I think it's very strange for a lawyer, of all people, to make such a statement.

Some previous posters have mentioned that they don't think a woman could have been forcibly abducted from a busy area, such as the strip mall where Cindy worked, in the middle of the day, without someone noticing and being alerted to the fact that a crime was happening. I've often thought about that, too. Then I recall so many of the true crime shows that I've seen.

In a lot of the cases they present, it seems that killers have been able to quietly abduct their victims from public areas. IIRC, a lot of the victims were convinced to come along without bringing attention to the situation because the kidnapper scared them into compliance by threatening them with a gun.

I've seen that happen on these shows so often that I decided if I were ever in such a situation, I'd rather just be shot to death in the parking lot full of witnesses rather than suffer what eventually happened to these victims before they were ultimately killed anyway.

I wonder what statistics are on this.... if attempting to flee an armed assailant gives a victim a better chance at surviving that kind of attack. Seems like almost all of the ones who leave quietly with the armed assailant, still end up dead, but with the killer having the advantage of not leaving any witnesses.

any updates?

Some previous posters have mentioned that they don't think a woman could have been forcibly abducted from a busy area, such as the strip mall where Cindy worked, in the middle of the day, without someone noticing and being alerted to the fact that a crime was happening. I've often thought about that, too. Then I recall so many of the true crime shows that I've seen.

In a lot of the cases they present, it seems that killers have been able to quietly abduct their victims from public areas. IIRC, a lot of the victims were convinced to come along without bringing attention to the situation because the kidnapper scared them into compliance by threatening them with a gun.

Cindy (despite her father's oddball comments) came across as a conservative, obedient girl; the type of person who would be more likely to go along with someone who was coercing or threatening her. And I agree with you that any number of victims have been kidnapped in the daytime from busy areas (one girl was abducted from a busy Target parking lot a few years back).

Regardless of who did the graffiti, she seems to have not only been harassed, but I've always been curious if she had some idea who was behind it (a client of the office), but simply was afraid to mention that to her bosses and possibly have it affect her employment. She figured she only had a few weeks more to go, than she would be out of there... There were shady dealings going on with some of the lawyers, but I'm not sure that was the motive for her disappearance; seems more like a stalking and homicide.

Was Greg Wiczynski an immigrant?
No, he wasn't an immigrant. He was born and raised right across, and down the street from this strip mall where Cindy was abducted from. That is what is so frustrating. We attended Woodward High School which was only a few blocks away. Any good detective could probably realize most spray paintings on buildings are probably done by teenagers. Most teenagers go to high school. Since "GW" was such a very big clue, looks like they could have at least went to the high school and looked for GW's just to rule them out.

The only "mystery" that I see in the Cindy Anderson case is why she wouldn't have just called her family and the police and let them know she's OK.

1) She tells people she's having nightmares about being attacked.
2) Mysterious messages appear spray painted in an area that faces her office.
3) She receives mysterious phone calls when there are witnesses around.
4) She asks her bosses to install a security buzzer on the door.
5) She disappears at a time of day when her presence would be missed.
6) Her romance novel is found on a page where a violent act occurs.

This all reads like a bad romance novel.

IMHO, she was growing tired of her life and wanted/needed a change. Rather than simply moving off on her own and start again, she created fantasies of being attacked, and implied to others that she was being stalked. At the height of the artificial "paranoia storm" she decided to disappear.

I also agree w/ an earlier poster when they said she could have been killed or died in any manner of ways while she was "on the run" and no one would have ever known, if she was using an alias. Or she may have a new life and created by telling an intensive amount of lies. Far more lies than she could easily ask others to forgive.

And for those who are "avowing" the drug dealer angle: Why would a drug dealer, that's a client of her boss, worry about her testifying against him? What could she possibly have heard that wouldn't be covered by attorney -client privilege?
Why wouldn't they offered her a bribe first? Or threats. If both of those methods failed, THEN, the client could
simply direct his attorney to terminate the receptionist's employment w/ the firm for cause, thus tainting any potential testimony , if it came to that.

The only "mystery" that I see in the Cindy Anderson case is why she wouldn't have just called her family and the police and let them know she's OK.

1) She tells people she's having nightmares about being attacked.
2) Mysterious messages appear spray painted in an area that faces her office.
3) She receives mysterious phone calls when there are witnesses around.
4) She asks her bosses to install a security buzzer on the door.
5) She disappears at a time of day when her presence would be missed.
6) Her romance novel is found on a page where a violent act occurs.

This all reads like a bad romance novel.

IMHO, she was growing tired of her life and wanted/needed a change. Rather than simply moving off on her own and start again, she created fantasies of being attacked, and implied to others that she was being stalked. At the height of the artificial "paranoia storm" she decided to disappear.

I also agree w/ an earlier poster when they said she could have been killed or died in any manner of ways while she was "on the run" and no one would have ever known, if she was using an alias. Or she may have a new life and created by telling an intensive amount of lies. Far more lies than she could easily ask others to forgive.

And for those who are "avowing" the drug dealer angle: Why would a drug dealer, that's a client of her boss, worry about her testifying against him? What could she possibly have heard that wouldn't be covered by attorney -client privilege?
Why wouldn't they offered her a bribe first? Or threats. If both of those methods failed, THEN, the client could
simply direct his attorney to terminate the receptionist's employment w/ the firm for cause, thus tainting any potential testimony , if it came to that.Interesting theory but it seems questionable.

-Cindy was leaving her family to go to a Bible college with her boyfriend. That alone gave her the chance to break away from her family. Why would she plan some sort of grand disappearance?

-Cindy grew up in a close Christian family; she came off as being sheltered. With that said, I have a hard time believing she could have the mental strength to completely cut all ties with her family and boyfriend and start anew. We're not talking about a brilliant career criminal here. It'd be more convient for her to go off to college.

-It's been 29 years since she disappeared. If she was alive, one would assume there'd be a lot of sightings of Cindy. Thus far, I haven't heard any source mentioning that Cindy Anderson had been sighted. Most of them suggest Cindy is deceased.

-If she is alive, (And that's a big if) why won't she just contact her family in order to let them know she's alive? She doesn't have to let them know about her whereabouts. Also, it would put to rest their mental torture of not knowing if Cindy is alive or not. This leads me to think that Cindy is most likely deceased.

With no signs of forced entry in her building maybe she let someone in she knew or indeed a staff member or a maintainence man and they abducted her. Although the problem I have with that is that it was in broad daylight, someone must have seen something.

does anyone think this could be her:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/266ufnj.html

She was found in a wooded area in Washington Township, NJ (It's possible her killer could have driven to NJ to dump the body hoping it would be considered another jane doe).
The body was discovered in 1982 and the estimated time of death was 6 months to a year.
The other stats seem to check out, too.
I have an errie feeling this might be her.

does anyone think this could be her:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/266ufnj.html

She was found in a wooded area in Washington Township, NJ (It's possible her killer could have driven to NJ to dump the body hoping it would be considered another jane doe).
The body was discovered in 1982 and the estimated time of death was 6 months to a year.
The other stats seem to check out, too.
I have an errie feeling this might be her.

It's possible, but not probable.
It's at least 10-11 hour drive from Toledo to Southern New Jersey ( I know, I've made a slightly longer drive to NJ before)
and there are literally miles and miles of forest in PA that would be much better places to dump a body.Not to mention the numerous rivers along the way.

Also, within an hour of Toledo, there are numerous lakes in Michigan that would easily hide a body, not to mention that Toledo is on Maumee Bay/Lake Erie.

It's possible, but not probable.
It's at least 10-11 hour drive from Toledo to Southern New Jersey ( I know, I've made a slightly longer drive to NJ before)
and there are literally miles and miles of forest in PA that would be much better places to dump a body.Not to mention the numerous rivers along the way.

Also, within an hour of Toledo, there are numerous lakes in Michigan that would easily hide a body, not to mention that Toledo is on Maumee Bay/Lake Erie.

I understand what your saying and your response was both intelligent and a good possibility, too.
However I still have a feeling it's her.
Something about the nose reminds me of a few of the pictures of Cynthia Anderson and her facial features could be mistaken for a hispanic woman if her body deteriorated so much. The fact that the body decomposed to the point where they couldn't tell if it was was white or hispanic was a big clue.
The height and other physical descriptions check out, too.
It also states that the person found was a victim of homicide which sadly for those who believe Cindy did not leave of her own free will was what most believe is unfortunately what happened :(
The fact that the body was found in NJ and was a 10-11 hour drive does not change my opinion either.
I have a feeling the killer or killers didn't want to dump the body anywhere near the area because they probably felt that even if they dumped it in a remote area closer to where she was abducted then there was always a chance she could be found. There have always been cases of people stumbling upon bodies in very remot areas. If Cindy's body was found and identified it would lead to a murder investigation instead of a missing persons case and I'm sure it would cause the police to further investigate the alleged drug activities at the law office.
I'm guessing the people that killed her were not professional killers and most people forgot how difficult it is to get rid of a human body. Also in the early 80's there were very few computer databases for DNA information and the communication between state to state law enforcment was not what it is today. The people that killed her knew they had to dump the body as far away as possible, but also in a remote location. They didn't want the body to be found and probably figured if they dumped her in NJ and was somehow found that Law Enforement would just label her another Jane Doe because they would be unable to find any missing persons in NJ or even neighboring states like PA and NY that would match with her.
These people were probably trying to not take any chances hence the 11 hour drive to NJ to dump the body.
I can also add that I used to live in Washington Township and it is the most wooded area of NJ. When I read where this body was found it sent chills down my spine because I always felt if someone commited a murder. Washington Township borders PA and the wooded areas here are so vast it scares me th think how easily someone can get lost in them.
I wonder if someone should contact law enforement about doing DNA testing on the body with that of cynthia's family?
I really hope this case is resolved someday.
30 years is a long time to go without an answer to what happened to a loved one.

The thing that bugs me about the Jane Doe is that she was found wearing a wig.

Cindy had very thick, dark hair that looks a lot like the wig on the reconstruction bust. When I saw that, I thought it was a possibility it was her because it looks like the style she's pictured wearing at one point. I wonder what the Jane Doe's real hair looked like and if the reconstruction depicts her in the wig rather than with her natural hair.

Frank Bender did the reconstruction. He did the John List bust that led to his capture. Mr. Bender's work is unparalleled, imo. I wish the doenetwork had a bigger picture of the Jane Doe. It's only 2" x 1 1/2" on my screen so it's hard to see the details.

This is probably a nitpicky detail that means nothing, but here it is. The Jane Doe was wearing a crucifix. Cindy was a devout Christian in what seems like a very fundamental denomination (Baptist, Assembly of God, etc.) In the early 1980s, I think it would be more common to see a Catholic wearing a crucifix and a fundamentalist wearing a plain cross.

This is probably a nitpicky detail that means nothing, but here it is. The Jane Doe was wearing a crucifix. Cindy was a devout Christian in what seems like a very fundamental denomination (Baptist, Assembly of God, etc.) In the early 1980s, I think it would be more common to see a Catholic wearing a crucifix and a fundamentalist wearing a plain cross.

That's a valid point point. I didn't realize the difference between a cross worn by a catholic and a christian fundamentalist.
This puts me on the fence with this.
They say she was found with a black wig, but it's possible they cut her hair and put the wig on the body so the police would assume she was a hooker (no offense meant by that).
The fact that the estimated time of death was between six months to year before February 1982 when the body was found puts her death in the time frame around Cindy's disappearance.
Like I said you put up some valid points so now I'm not as convinced it's her, but I still feel there is a chance it's her. The fact that some of the other things match Cindy and just a feeling I have.
I hope that if it is her then they can do a DNA test to find out and atleast give her family an answer as to what happened to her.

Earlier, I mentioned that I was kinda suspicious of the attorney saying that he Just Knew She Wasn't Coming Back. He seems so sure that's she's gone forever.

Is it possible that the lawyers helped her get a new ID so she could "disappear"?

Earlier, I mentioned that I was kinda suspicious of the attorney saying that he Just Knew She Wasn't Coming Back. He seems so sure that's she's gone forever.

Is it possible that the lawyers helped her get a new ID so she could "disappear"?

Unfortunately it seems murder is most likely :(
Let's face it, drug dealers and corrupt attorney/lawyers aren't exactly the most compassionate of people and I seriously doubt they would go through the trouble and give her a new ID (even if she wanted to get away from her family) when they could just kill her and dump the body far away in another state. It seems like other posters said which is that Cindy overheard something she wasn't supposed to hear and she was threatened by these people. They eventually decided her staying alive knowing what she knew was too much of a risk and so they killed her. She had only two weeks left to work at the law office and these people probably thought time was running out. There have been so many cases of "witnesses" being murdered because they accidentally discovered knowledge of illegal drug transactions.
Cindy would have been 49 right now :(

This is from the Charley Project website on Cynthia Anderson:

"Convicted drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. and his attorney, Richard Neller, are also suspects in Anderson's case. Neller worked with Anderson's law firm during 1981 and authorities theorize that she may have overheard conversations between Neller and Rodriguez concerning drug deals prior to her disappearance. Investigators believe the information may have led to Anderson's possible abduction and/or murder, though this has never been proven. An informant testified at Rodriguez's trial in 1995 that Rodriguez confessed to killing Anderson, but the testimony was ruled to be unreliable. Both Rodriguez and Neller are currently imprisoned due to drug convictions. No one has been charged in connection with Anderson's disappearance and her case remains unsolved."

Earlier, I mentioned that I was kinda suspicious of the attorney saying that he Just Knew She Wasn't Coming Back. He seems so sure that's she's gone forever.

Is it possible that the lawyers helped her get a new ID so she could "disappear"?


That's a very intruiging theory!

This is from the Charley Project website on Cynthia Anderson:

"Convicted drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. and his attorney, Richard Neller, are also suspects in Anderson's case. Neller worked with Anderson's law firm during 1981 and authorities theorize that she may have overheard conversations between Neller and Rodriguez concerning drug deals prior to her disappearance. Investigators believe the information may have led to Anderson's possible abduction and/or murder, though this has never been proven. An informant testified at Rodriguez's trial in 1995 that Rodriguez confessed to killing Anderson, but the testimony was ruled to be unreliable. Both Rodriguez and Neller are currently imprisoned due to drug convictions. No one has been charged in connection with Anderson's disappearance and her case remains unsolved."

This is the most likely scenario, sadly the police and the courts have botched it so bad that the truth about Cindy will probably never be confirmed.

This is from the Charley Project website on Cynthia Anderson:

"Convicted drug dealer Jose Rodriguez Jr. and his attorney, Richard Neller, are also suspects in Anderson's case. Neller worked with Anderson's law firm during 1981 and authorities theorize that she may have overheard conversations between Neller and Rodriguez concerning drug deals prior to her disappearance. Investigators believe the information may have led to Anderson's possible abduction and/or murder, though this has never been proven. An informant testified at Rodriguez's trial in 1995 that Rodriguez confessed to killing Anderson, but the testimony was ruled to be unreliable. Both Rodriguez and Neller are currently imprisoned due to drug convictions. No one has been charged in connection with Anderson's disappearance and her case remains unsolved."

While that's possible,it's not very probable.

1) The secretary worked for the attorneys, making anything that she might have overheard covered under attorney-client privilege and therefore not usable by the authorities. Also, anybody that would have decided to "get rid of her" would have to assume that she might have written down what she heard or told someone else.
If her family's home had been broken into and/or something had happened to her boyfriend around the same time, then I could believe that this was related to her disappearance.

2) Causing the disappearance to occur at their attorney's office would have been an extremely poor idea as the police would have interviewed all of the people in the office complex as well as people at the businesses surrounding it.They could also get a warrant for the phone records and might get limited access to certain attorney records that might be damaging to the clients.
Any actions that would bring attention to your lawyer's office is a poor idea that would be avoided by all but the most foolish of criminals.

3) If the drug dealers DID have something to do w/ the disappearance, why hasn't that rumor been more widespread? It's almost impossible to keep a secret and low and mid-level criminals are some of the worst at keeping them.
Given the amount of time that has passed since this disappearance,it's hard to believe that at least one dealer hasn't bragged to others about being involved in the disappearance and that the authorities haven't followed up on that lead.

Just watched this segment again and then read this whole thread. I will lay out all possible suspects and then give my line of reasoning for the pros and cons of each.

First it needs to be broken into two broad categories:

A) She left on her own accord and has decided to walk away from her life

B) She was abducted.

Scenario A leads to nothing but wild speculation. However, I think if she did walk away, she would have made it known by now or someone would have recognized her after all these years. I say scenario A has about a 10% chance of being true. If this were a 21 year old man, I would be inclined to give the "walk away" theory a lot more credence, but since it's a woman, it's much less likely.

Scenario B is where the focus should be. So let's look at the possibilities:


Suspect #1: GW. We can rule out the spray painting as having any significance to this case, as verified by the "real Cindy" poster in this thread. This means the maintenance man can be ruled out. It also makes it highly unlikely (though not impossible) that any other stalker or serial rapist/killer was involved. The location she was at is just too risky.

Suspect #2: Her father. Her father's fundamentalism does not suddenly equate to him being a murderer. That is a big stretch. This isn't the DeCloud family. I don't think this theory should be given any consideration whatsoever unless there is a much more compelling reason than his on camera persona.

Suspect #3: Serial Killers: There was no forced entry to the office and no struggle whatsoever. It was also broad daylight in the middle of a fairly busy area. Most serial killers just don't take that big of a risk and is why I strongly doubt this theory (even though there was a pair of serial killers who killed women in a nearby area at that same time).

Suspect #4: Lawyers Years later it was discovered one of the lawyers in this firm was arrested and disbarred for drug charges. A prison inmate also claims this guy Neller confessed to her killing. Since there was no sign of a struggle or forced entry in the office, this is the most likely candidate. A lawyer would have her trust and would also have access to the building even if locked.

A few other observations:

I don't put much credence into the mystery caller who claimed she was being held in a white house. As another poster has said, people don't realize just how often police have to deal with false witnesses, mistaken witnesses or just cranks. It's pretty routine. The mere fact that this person couldn't simply blurt out an address after calling two different times leads me to strongly believe the call was a crank.

The threatening calls Cindy was getting were rather odd. I find it strange that if this Rodriguez drug dealer was after her (the guy who was a client of Neller), that he would be giving her warning or tipping her off to his intentions. It also seems to me quite likely should would quit the job if receiving threats from clients (I know I would). And we know these calls were coming in before the day she went missing, which means she had the choice not to come back to the job. Of course, it's possible Rodriguez/Neller at first just threatened her to keep her mouth shut and then suddenly decided it would be safer to kill her.

As other posters have said, this drug dealer and the lawyer must be stupid if they're discussing drug business in front of Cindy. And even if they were, it's attorney/client privilege. However, it's possible Rodriguez was the main culprit behind wanting to "get rid" of her and thus didn't realize that her testimony against them would be worthless in court. It's possible Neller was only involved after the fact in a cover-up capacity.

The book: I find that sort of as a red herring. I find it very strange that the lawyer who came into the office to find her missing automatically assumed foul play because of a passage from her book. To me, this is very suspicious (even though that lawyer was not the same one convicted of drug charges). I mean there's no sign of struggle and the office was locked. It is quite presumptuous to automatically assume foul play.

I wonder if the Police have checked whether Rodriguez's parents owned two white houses side by side? the caller said the parents were out of town and the son had her captive. I don't put a lot of credence into that call, but it is worth checking into.

I think the most likely scenario is she either overheard or stumbled upon something involving drugs. I believe another poster has said the spray painted "GW" signs were in fact intended for another person entirely, and UM actually e-mailed the poster saying they would correct the segment. The fact that her father came off as domineering does not mean he was involved in her disappearance. And I've never got a bad vibe about how he described her as "obedient", I just always figured he was raised "old school". The fact that there were no signs of forced entry, meaning if she didn't leave on her on volition, she knew her abductor. Which goes along with the drug theory, especially if one of the lawyers was later brought up on drug charges. If there were shady drug dealings going on in the firm, it's really not that unlikely that she saw or heard something someone didn't want to get out.

The only thing that keeps nagging me about this case is the fact that her novel was left open on a page about a woman running away starting a new life. This could be possible that Cindy wanted to get away from her conservative upbringing to start living the life she wanted, but don't you think by now she would have contacted at least one member of her family if she were alive and well?

Like the others, I think she's long dead due to having overheard too much and is held/buried somewhere. Where that is, we'll probably never know.

The people who think she ran away are crazy. Cindy loved her sis and mother very much--don't you think she would have at least reached out to them by now? I laugh at the people trying to use that idiot father as reason for that ludicrious hypothesis.

Her father is a total ass though. I bet Cindy and the rest of her siblings have a really hard upbringing at the hands of him. He didn't seem that concerned at all that his daughter was missing. At the end of his interview he even smiles into the camera. What the hell is up with that?

Yeah, that smile was a bizarre exclamation point to things.

Her father seemed visibly disturbed and saddened when he was first on the broadcast. He was probably a tough disciplinarian but thats about it.

The smile the father gave at the end of the interview simply could have been because he was on the verge of tears. Several people attempt to smile right before they cry as an attempt to mask their emotions.

I think some of the father's remarks were off color, however, I think his smile may also have been an attempt for optimism to avoid being overwhelmed by emotion. I don't think he had anything to do with the disappearance.

I still can't believe this case is unsolved. On a random note, is it weird that I want to know what novel she was reading that was found in the vacant office? Was it a crazy coincidence that it was open to the only violent part of the book?

Here's one detail I'd like to bring up. Does anyone else fine it very strange that Cindy had a button at her work place in order to alert the next door business? She also kept the door locked at her work place. To me, this is a sign she was fearful of either someone or some individuals.

In addition, I wonder if Cindy was indirectly trying to tell her sister that her life was in danger by saying she had premonitions. Perhaps the culprit/s threatened to kill her if she told any of her loved ones about the threats.

There's a new article up about Cindy Anderson. It talks about how her father never stopped looking for her, and refused to move from the house where Cindy had lived last, or to change his phone number, in case she tried to contact him. It also mentions that her mother died of cancer in 1983 :(

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/08/04/Woman-s-disappearance-a-mystery-after-30-years.html

Charli-Ann

The article linked in the previous post says this:

Jay Feldstein, a Toledo labor attorney, was an associate at the firm when Miss Anderson went missing. In fact, the day she disappeared, Mr. Feldstein spent the morning in court with Mr. Anderson and one of his sons.

This is the first I've heard that on the day she went missing, her brother and father were in court with a lawyer who was sort of a co-worker of hers. And I thought her dad was at work when he got the call about her being missing. Do I have that right?

So are there any ideas on if this could be connected or if it's a coincidence?

Someone commenting on the article even went so far as to suspect that since Feldstein was a labor attorney, unscrupulous union people killed her! Not withstanding the Jimmy Hoffa case, unions carrying out a murder on a very low level 20 year old legal secretary with no connection to them seems too far fetched.

Depending on what that case was about, tho, could there be revenge involved, or maybe someone (including Cindy herself) knew that her dad and brother would be busy during a certain time that day? That would keep them from immediately knowing she was missing and would create a significant delay in the men of her family searching for her. (And this seemed like they could be the kind of family where males dominated and were the decision makers.)

In the article, Cindy's dad is holding up a photo of her. IMO, the resemblance between Cindy and her father, in that picture was very strong. I didn't notice it so much when he was younger and doing his interview on UM. If she's still alive, she'd be 50. I wouldn't be surprised if she would look like her dad did in his middle aged years.

I haven't watched the segment in ages. but I always thought it was interesting at how young her Dad looked in the segment what with having a 20 year old daughter at the time. to me he seemed like a "young hip" kind of Dad. not the Dictator some Posters think he was. if anything he seemed like a bit of a Goofball with his odd remarks. but that's just my POV.

Oh and for the record the fact that he never moved and refused to have the phone # changed and never stopped looking for her proves he cared about her. Gosh some people on this board think if a person being interviewed blinks or giggles they are made of Ice or are automatically murderers.

I know the GW, its not Greg. He was the maintenance man. I know the house that was torn apart by the detectives looking for any signs of her. They even busted up the concrete floor. The house was also broken into and the basement spray-painted with things like "I know what you did".








Yes, Please alter the story on your web page. The fact that the Toledo Police never updated you just makes me more upset at how bad they botched this case. I feel sorry for her family because if they would have only realized since these messages were painted where Cynthia Anderson couldn't see them, they probably weren't for her, and only bothered to check around the neighborhood, maybe they could have taken off their blinders and been hotter on the trail of the real suspects.Looking at your web page makes me cry at that idiot painting my initials on it. It makes Greg out like some pervert and it is disgraceful since I gave the police all the evidence they needed to prove my case. I believe they maybe a little embarassed they didn't do better detective work. PLEASE restore my love's respect and our memories as well. I love your show but do not want to even look at the page as it makes me cry.Very Respectfully Yours, Cynthia Betz.
----- Original Message -----
From: unsolvedtips@unsolved.com
To: Cynthia Betz
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 7:06 PM
Subject: RE: A message from Cynthia Betz arrived

I know the GW, its not Greg. He was the maintenance man. I know the house that was torn apart by the detectives looking for any signs of her. They even busted up the concrete floor. The house was also broken into and the basement spray-painted with things like "I know what you did".

Before I go off on a rant I want to be sure I am understanding this message correctly.Are you implying that GW on the spraypainted walls was not Greg???? I surely hope not because I was actually with my Greg when he wrote these messages........I am going to remain calm, maybe I am misunderstanding.

Just saw this one and read the whole thread. I believe Cynthia was suffering from some kind of breakdown and maybe seeking some kind of strange attention or emotional reaction from family/friends/co-workers. etc. I think she had a plan to disappear from it all and wanted to make it look like she was a victim so she didn't come off as selfish to her family. It's possible this breakdown lead to some kind of real mental illness and she became homeless and never looked back. I think her very strict religious upbringing could had lead her down this road... ie., making her not feel like she was an autonomous human being with her own life and opinions at home, undergoing religious guilt trips, family not understanding depression and confusing it with immorality, etc.

Or, she went out to lunch by herself (not enough info of her daily habits at work, though; was it unusual for her to go eat lunch somewhere and walk instead of drive?) and got abducted by a complete stranger, unrelated to law firm drug conspiracies and the like.

And Cindy B, I have no idea who that poster is, but don't get too upset. I feel for you and am touched by the young love you had with your GW, and hate to see people who still don't know better end up upsetting you.

I cannot fathom how Cindy would have simply up and left, in the middle of the day, without any signs of her leaving (missing clothing, missing luggage, etc.), without any signs of her wanting to start a new life (no "secret" bank accounts, no activities in her known bank accounts, etc.), AND never came forward after all of these years (especially after the death of her parents) to let her family know she was all right. Sadly, I think Cindy died either on or shortly after she disappeared.

Before I go off on a rant I want to be sure I am understanding this message correctly.Are you implying that GW on the spraypainted walls was not Greg???? I surely hope not because I was actually with my Greg when he wrote these messages........I am going to remain calm, maybe I am misunderstanding.


Yes.

Yes.

Sorry the attachments were so large but anyone can google how close my Greg (GW)'s address was to the address of the Manhattan Plaza that Cynthia Anderson worked at which was 533 East Manhattan. It's infuriating to me that anyone can make a blatant statement that my boyfriend Greg didn't write on those walls when I was with him when he did it half the time. Everytime they whitewashed it off the building, he would go right back over there and do it again. Some of my greatest memories of him, especially since he tragically died so young was that he would go out and tell the world how much he loved me. Now I have someone telling me that the memories I experienced physically, didn't happen. I placed a piece of paper over my SSN before scanning the envelope. The Army used to make us include it in our address. I have tons of these letters. Detective Kulakowski from TPD actually took some for evidence to prove that my GW is the GW who wrote on the walls. They are in evidence in the Cynthia Anderson case. I just included part of one of my letters to show how he used to use GW.

Cynthiab, your explanation of Greg's story is very believable without someone making you feel like you have to publish something so private that is no one else's business.

If anyone wants to find out if the "GW" connection to Cindy Anderson's case was cleared up or if the maintenance man with the initials GW is still a suspect, they can contact the police and get the information straight from the officials.

Cynthiab, your explanation of Greg's story is very believable without someone making you feel like you have to publish something so private that is no one else's business.

If anyone wants to find out if the "GW" connection to Cindy Anderson's case was cleared up or if the maintenance man with the initials GW is still a suspect, they can contact the police and get the information straight from the officials.

It's ok, thank you for that but I have nothing to hide and I'm actually doing it in honor of not only Greg, but the family of the Maintenance man who was unfortunate enough to have the wrong initials. I would love to help them clear their family name because I'm sure what they went through must have been horrendous. The poor man passed away under these circumstances and left this horrible legacy for his family.

It's ok, thank you for that but I have nothing to hide and I'm actually doing it in honor of not only Greg, but the family of the Maintenance man who was unfortunate enough to have the wrong initials. I would love to help them clear their family name because I'm sure what they went through must have been horrendous. The poor man passed away under these circumstances and left this horrible legacy for his family.


It also bothered me that an innocent man died under such heavy suspicion in a missing person case. And it looks like the suspicions were based solely on his initials.

If the authorities had paid attention to the full scope of the "GW" tagging, it would be clear that the maintenance man wasn't involved, and the whole thing was just innocent teenage stuff not aimed at Cindy Anderson at all.

Cynthiab, I also feel bad that the other poster made you feel obligated to post such personal things. I'm sure I speak on behalf of the other posters here when I say that I really appreciate you sharing such details with us. I'm really sorry for your loss and absolutely believe your story. It is just unfortunate that an innocent message of love has been misconstrued by rumors and allegations.

I had made a thread about Cynthia Anderson without realizing that this one already existed. I wanted to ask if Cynthia ever gave the name of the man she said was in her nightmares. Is he one already suspected of abducting and possibly murdering her or is it someone completely different?

Another question: did the man who said that he killed her say anything else? That is, how he did it? Where? And of course, where did he put her body? I know that a judge did not find the man to be credible, but I am wondering what exactly he told the police. You would think that they could then attempt to verify his story. Was there any independent corroboration of this guy's story? I can't recall this being addressed in this thread, but my apologies if it has already been discussed.

The guy that killed her said he shot her with a 9 mm. Where this happened or what he did with the body I'm not sure he ever said. Like another poster said, I do wonder if Jose Rodriguez' parents ever owned two houses side by side... or possibly Richard Neller's parents for that matter. I'm not buying this 'she ran away to start a new life' theory. Yes it is true of Rodriguez and Neller were discussing drug business and Cindy over heard it,that's attorney/client privacy and could not be used against them in court. Some people are saying that proves that Rodriguez or Neller couldn't have possibly have had anything to do with her disappearance because they would have known that her testimony in court would have been worthless in court. Wake up people, criminals do not always do things that make sense! If she ran away to start a new life why didn't she do so in her car? Her car was found parked right outside the office and why were her bank accounts which had a lot of money in them never touched? Why would Jose Rodriguez confess to killing her to an inmate for no reason? Some other things I would like to know, has Jose Rodriguez been questioned by Police about Cindy after the alleged confession? Has Richard Neller been extensively interviewed?

I still stand by my original theory that Cindy Anderson left of her own free will. There's a lot about this story that just doesn't sit right with me. I grew up in a very conservative town and I knew a number of girls likes Cindy...girls who once they started stretching their wings (making friends, getting jobs, wearing makeup) met with repercussions. I think Cindy staged the disappearance and left the area on her own -- but possibly with the help of a friend.

I really think she saw life as an obedient wife staring at her and couldn't go through with it, and left.

I'm sorry tygre, I just can't see that as a viable theory. Unsolved mysteries has aired this story dozens of times and is still airing it. This girl was only 20 at the time of the disappearance-a kid, from a very sheltered home, no less. She didn't likely have street smarts, especially to an extent where she could avoid being identified for thirty years, get away and live on no money at all, and fool an entire police force into thinking she was kidnapped. This case has has ritually zero leads. If Cindy was EVER out in the world at any time, she would've interacted with people. At the very least, one of those people would've come forward by now to say that knew/know her and that she went by such-and-such in town x. I think the probability of this girl being voluntarily missing is zero. She does not fit the profile at all, especially of those who went voluntarily missing thirty years ago. We have much more advanced means of covering our tracks now, so twenty year kids can potentially go up identified for a while if they're street smart, but thirty years ago? Nothing.

All this time, I believed that Cindy Anderson lived in Ohio. But did she?

After reading this article again, which is linked upthread: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/08/04/Woman-s-disappearance-a-mystery-after-30-years.html

I finally realized that it states her family was from "Bedford Township", I did a little digging around. It gives the street address for her family. A neighbor is also interviewed and her name is listed in the white pages on the same street as the Andersons. There's a street by that name in the Toledo area, but there's no neighbor with the same name and there's no address that's close to the same house number.

From what I can figure out, they lived in Lambertville, Michigan, (maybe it had a Bedford mailing address back then or was part of bedford twp or viceversa, either way, google maps counts Bedford and Lambertville as the same area when the street address is used). The area is just across the line from OH, and it would make sense as to why Cindy would be planning to attend a Michigan college, about an hour from her house, yet work at a law office in Toledo. Does anyone know if she was planning on living near college or commuting from home?

If I have the correct addresses, her job was 9 miles from her home. The law office address is approximately 523 E. Manhattan Blvd. Toldeo, OH. The pizza hut is still in the parking lot there.

During this time frame there were a few murders/body dump sites I've read about (have to look up details tho) that were occurring right there on US 23. And I mean right there. Cynthia's neighborhood is in a rural area right off of 23.

Also, with her living and working in two states, I think that could muddy up some investigating regarding jurisdiction. Was Toledo (from where she went missing) communicating with anyone in Michigan (where I think she lived)? What if the suspect was from Michigan, and maybe stalked her and followed her to work? What if she was abducted and taken the few short miles back to Michigan? Seems like everyone was running around Toledo like chickens with their heads cut off, and even down to Perrysburg or someplace where the Two Houses Side by Side were supposedly located, but did anyone suspect a Michigan connection?

Yep, Lambertville, MI.

Here's Cynthia's dad's obituary. I'm not sure if it's been linked here yet. (And it's reported in the Toledo Blade newspaper... those towns must be deeply intertwined.) He's buried in Toledo Memorial Park cemetery.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=michael-anderson&pid=100626260&fhid=3411

Cynthia's mother's name was Margaret Anderson, her father was Michael Anderson, her step mother (whom she never met) has also passed, her name was Elizabeth.

I could only find her father's listing at Find a Grave and didn't see listings for her mother or step mother. They may not be buried in the same cemetery.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=anderson&GSiman=1&GScid=43754&GRid=74405918&

I live in Michigan and Toledo is not far from the state line. I have some family friends who work in Toledo and live not that far from me. It's a pretty common commute on both sides. We sometimes refer to Toledo as Michigan Junior.

And now on to these two fellas who were terrorizing the Toledo area during the time Cindy went missing...

Anthony and Nathaniel Cook, serial killing brothers, who were mentioned upthread:

http://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/cook-brothers.htm

This site says their murders were racially motivated. Apparently, they only killed white people, often couples, but also single women, and even a 12 year old little girl. One of their murders was committed just a couple days before Cindy went missing.

I discounted these two as suspects right away. I don't know why. Maybe because so much mayhem was already going on in that city. Maybe I thought they were committing their crimes in a different area of Toledo from where Cindy went missing. But I finally decided to map everything out, and it looks like most of their crimes were committed within WALKING DISTANCE of where Cindy worked. From less than a mile to just a few miles away.

Cindy worked at a strip mall law office near this address:

523 E Manhattan Blvd, Toledo, OH

Crimes committed by the Cook brothers:

Distance from Cindy: 2.6 miles - Dec. 20, 1973, Vicky Lynn Small, 22, and some friends had car trouble during a bad snowstorm. Anthony Cook, then 24, stopped to help and ended up giving Ms. Small a ride. She was raped and stabbed to death. Dumped in Ottawa Park. Distance from Cindy: 2.8 miles

(jail stint for robbery stalled their murders spree for a while)

Distance from Cindy: 2 Miles - May 14, 1980, Thomas Gordon and his girlfriend were abducted from her home on Utica Street, Toledo, OH, driven at gunpoint to a secluded area 17 miles away, Mr. Gordon was murdered, the girlfriend was repeatedly raped, stabbed, feigned death, and survived. They were dumped in North Toledo. Distance from Cindy: about 3.5 miles


Distance from Cindy: 2.4 miles - Jan. 17, 1981, Connie Sue Thompson, 19, was picked up hitchiking near the medical center. She was driven to the western part of Lucas county, raped and murdered. Her body was left in a culvert.

Distance from Cindy: 5.2 miles- January 27, 1981, Arnold Coates, then 21, and Cheryl Bartlett, then 18, were walking in an alley behind Segur Avenue when the Cooks forced them into a vacant garage at gunpoint. Because they had just one bullet, they made the couple embrace and shot them, but not fatally.

Distance from Cindy: 5.4 miles - February 21, 1981, Dawn Rene Backes, 12, was abducted by Anthony Cook while she walking near the University of Toledo. He drove her to his brother's apartment. They took the victim to an abandoned theater at 2460 Collingwood Blvd, where they raped, tortured and murdered her. Distance from Cindy: 2.2 miles.

Distance from Cindy: 4.8 miles - March 27, 1981, Anthony Cook noticed Scott Moulton 21, and Denise Siotkowski 22, in a car in the parking lot of the Fountain Circle Apartments in Oregon, OH. Moulton was shot and killed. Siotkowski was raped and killed. They were found in the trunk of the car in the apartment parking lot.

Distance from Cindy: .7 miles - (less than a mile away and two days before Cindy went missing) -August 2, 1981 -Stacey Balonek, 21, and Daryle Cole, 21, were parked at Stacey's home on Doyle Street. They were forced at gunpoint into the trunk of their car, driven to the railroad tracks beneath the Central Avenue overpass. Distance from Cindy: 2.1 miles. Ms. Balonek was sexually assaulted and both were beaten to death with Mr. Cole's aluminum baseball bat.

Cindy Anderson- August 4, 1981 - (fate unknown)

Distance from Cindy: 7.7 miles - Sept. 18, 1981, Todd Sabo and Leslie Sawicki were attacked while parked at an apartment complex in the 4100 block of North Terrace View Drive near Richards Road. Ms. Sawicki managed to escape while Mr. Sabo fought with Anthony Cook. She called her father and police. The Ottawa Hills police station was 0.2 of a mile from the scene, but they didn't send officers because it was out of their jurisdiction. They referred the call to Toledo police. Her father, Peter Sawicki arrived at the apartment complex first and was fatally shot in the throat. Mr. Sabo was also shot but survived.

I live in Michigan and Toledo is not far from the state line. I have some family friends who work in Toledo and live not that far from me. It's a pretty common commute on both sides. We sometimes refer to Toledo as Michigan Junior.

Michigan Junior! lol I didn't know that.

I'm in Michigan too ,usually living in suburban detroit, (I didn't really want to reveal too much here) but we recently had to move closer to OH, so it's all new to me.

Now I regularly go by all the areas involved in Cindy's case. Last week, I was just by the area of her house and the cemetery where her father is buried. My husband works just a few miles from where Cindy worked.

I guess when you realize how close you are, it makes the case more real somehow, and not so much like just a story you see on TV.

I'm sorry tygre, I just can't see that as a viable theory. Unsolved mysteries has aired this story dozens of times and is still airing it. This girl was only 20 at the time of the disappearance-a kid, from a very sheltered home, no less. She didn't likely have street smarts, especially to an extent where she could avoid being identified for thirty years, get away and live on no money at all, and fool an entire police force into thinking she was kidnapped. This case has has ritually zero leads. If Cindy was EVER out in the world at any time, she would've interacted with people. At the very least, one of those people would've come forward by now to say that knew/know her and that she went by such-and-such in town x. I think the probability of this girl being voluntarily missing is zero. She does not fit the profile at all, especially of those who went voluntarily missing thirty years ago. We have much more advanced means of covering our tracks now, so twenty year kids can potentially go up identified for a while if they're street smart, but thirty years ago? Nothing.

I totally agree with this assessment.

Moreover, I think in this particular case there has been a tendency to assume that because whomever analyzing the case might personally find the idea of life as a fundamentalist Protestant Christian unappealing, it must have been to Cindy as well. By all accounts, she was just as personally avowed in her particular faith as was the rest of her family. There is not a shred of evidence at all whatsoever to suggest she was unhappy with her life, had trouble with her family, or was depressed about her "station" in life. In fact, by all accounts it seems it was just the opposite: she had a job she enjoyed, was close to her family, and was preparing to start at a local "Bible" college alongside her boyfriend.

Regardless of any given person's personal feelings on Michael Anderson's commentary about wearing makeup and skipping breakfast, the man never, ever stopped looking for his daughter. Doesn't sound like a family full of bad blood to me.

And now on to these two fellas who were terrorizing the Toledo area during the time Cindy went missing...

Anthony and Nathaniel Cook, serial killing brothers, who were mentioned upthread:

http://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/cook-brothers.htm

This site says their murders were racially motivated. Apparently, they only killed white people, often couples, but also single women, and even a 12 year old little girl. One of their murders was committed just a couple days before Cindy went missing.

I discounted these two as suspects right away. I don't know why. Maybe because so much mayhem was already going on in that city. Maybe I thought they were committing their crimes in a different area of Toledo from where Cindy went missing. But I finally decided to map everything out, and it looks like most of their crimes were committed within WALKING DISTANCE of where Cindy worked. From less than a mile to just a few miles away.

Cindy worked at a strip mall law office near this address:

523 E Manhattan Blvd, Toledo, OH

Crimes committed by the Cook brothers:

Distance from Cindy: 2.6 miles - Dec. 20, 1973, Vicky Lynn Small, 22, and some friends had car trouble during a bad snowstorm. Anthony Cook, then 24, stopped to help and ended up giving Ms. Small a ride. She was raped and stabbed to death. Dumped in Ottawa Park. Distance from Cindy: 2.8 miles

(jail stint for robbery stalled their murders spree for a while)

Distance from Cindy: 2 Miles - May 14, 1980, Thomas Gordon and his girlfriend were abducted from her home on Utica Street, Toledo, OH, driven at gunpoint to a secluded area 17 miles away, Mr. Gordon was murdered, the girlfriend was repeatedly raped, stabbed, feigned death, and survived. They were dumped in North Toledo. Distance from Cindy: about 3.5 miles


Distance from Cindy: 2.4 miles - Jan. 17, 1981, Connie Sue Thompson, 19, was picked up hitchiking near the medical center. She was driven to the western part of Lucas county, raped and murdered. Her body was left in a culvert.

Distance from Cindy: 5.2 miles- January 27, 1981, Arnold Coates, then 21, and Cheryl Bartlett, then 18, were walking in an alley behind Segur Avenue when the Cooks forced them into a vacant garage at gunpoint. Because they had just one bullet, they made the couple embrace and shot them, but not fatally.

Distance from Cindy: 5.4 miles - February 21, 1981, Dawn Rene Backes, 12, was abducted by Anthony Cook while she walking near the University of Toledo. He drove her to his brother's apartment. They took the victim to an abandoned theater at 2460 Collingwood Blvd, where they raped, tortured and murdered her. Distance from Cindy: 2.2 miles.

Distance from Cindy: 4.8 miles - March 27, 1981, Anthony Cook noticed Scott Moulton 21, and Denise Siotkowski 22, in a car in the parking lot of the Fountain Circle Apartments in Oregon, OH. Moulton was shot and killed. Siotkowski was raped and killed. They were found in the trunk of the car in the apartment parking lot.

Distance from Cindy: .7 miles - (less than a mile away and two days before Cindy went missing) -August 2, 1981 -Stacey Balonek, 21, and Daryle Cole, 21, were parked at Stacey's home on Doyle Street. They were forced at gunpoint into the trunk of their car, driven to the railroad tracks beneath the Central Avenue overpass. Distance from Cindy: 2.1 miles. Ms. Balonek was sexually assaulted and both were beaten to death with Mr. Cole's aluminum baseball bat.

Cindy Anderson- August 4, 1981 - (fate unknown)

Distance from Cindy: 7.7 miles - Sept. 18, 1981, Todd Sabo and Leslie Sawicki were attacked while parked at an apartment complex in the 4100 block of North Terrace View Drive near Richards Road. Ms. Sawicki managed to escape while Mr. Sabo fought with Anthony Cook. She called her father and police. The Ottawa Hills police station was 0.2 of a mile from the scene, but they didn't send officers because it was out of their jurisdiction. They referred the call to Toledo police. Her father, Peter Sawicki arrived at the apartment complex first and was fatally shot in the throat. Mr. Sabo was also shot but survived.

Very interesting, Tracy! I think those individuals might be extremely viable suspects.

Check out this article from 2008 regarding OH murderers being housed in prisons near their families for the sake of convenient visitation. It includes info about the Cook brothers:

http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2008/06/08/Families-of-Toledo-murder-victims-decry-nearby-imprisonment-of-killers.html

Nathaniel Cook, 49, was denied his first chance at parole earlier this year. He will be eligible for another parole hearing in January, 2018.

This guy is up for parole again in exactly 4 years!

A few details on just one of his murders: On Feb. 21, 1981, Anthony Cook was driving home from work when he saw Dawn Backes, who was 12, walking down the street.

He grabbed her by the neck and forced her into his truck. He drove her to his brother Nathaniel's apartment to pick him up. The two of them then drove her to an abandoned theater where they took her to the basement and tortured and raped her. They killed her by smashing her skull with a concrete block.

Why would this guy ever get a sentence that includes the possibility for parole? That means every few years the families of all his murder victims have to relieve the killing of their loved ones and have to fight against the killer being released. What is OH thinking?

Here's a photo of Dawn.
http://www.frankstiles.com/images/Dawnbackes.gif

OFF TOPIC

Cook brothers:

http://www.drc.ohio.gov/ Choose "offender information" then "offender search" from the drop down menu.

An offender search here shows that Anthony Cook is due for his first parole hearing next year.

It looks like they were never convicted for their crimes against Dawn Backes. I don't think they were tried for a lot of the crimes they committed. I can't tell if they plead down in exchange for confessions or if officials thought convictions on a few cases were enough to keep them in prison so the other cases weren't tried.


Anthony Cook's convictions -

Murder of male adult
Attempted rape of female adult
Aggravated robbery of male adult
Attempted murder of male adult
Aggravated murder of male adult


Nathaniel Cook's convictions -

Attempted aggravated murder of male adult
Kidnapping of female adult




There's nothing about the torture/rape/murder of a child in their convictions. With only kidnapping and attempted murder on Nathaniel's charges, he could actually get out in four years. This is nuts.

Very interesting, Tracy! I think those individuals might be extremely viable suspects.
Excellent research, TracyLynnS! Those are some SCARY looking guys. Based on this information I could definitely see these two as very strong suspects. The link you provided stated that the Cook brothers were long-haul truck drivers. Has anyone checked their driving itinerary during the week Cindy disappeared? I realize that they committed the Stacey Balonek and Daryle Cole murders a mere two days prior to Cindy's disappearance but, due to the nature of their profession, it is possible that law enforcement looked into these guys and cleared them as suspects in this case due to logistical factors if they were indeed on the road.

Excellent research, TracyLynnS! Those are some SCARY looking guys. Based on this information I could definitely see these two as very strong suspects. The link you provided stated that the Cook brothers were long-haul truck drivers. Has anyone checked their driving itinerary during the week Cindy disappeared? I realize that they committed the Stacey Balonek and Daryle Cole murders a mere two days prior to Cindy's disappearance but, due to the nature of their profession, it is possible that law enforcement looked into these guys and cleared them as suspects in this case due to logistical factors if they were indeed on the road.

COOK BROTHERS TOPIC


I've been looking around on the internet to try to find answers to some of those questions and haven't found anything yet. Authorities do speculate that they could have victims in other states that just haven't been connected to them yet.

I've been trying to find out where they lived in Toledo (haven't been able to) by reading old newspaper reports. Been trying to find connections to where they worked, how often they worked, and what states there were in at different times. I got no answers on that.

I want to get this book, written by one of the investigators:

http://www.amazon.com/Evil-Brothers-Frank-P-Stiles/dp/1432710427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389548394&sr=8-1&keywords=evil+brothers+frank+stiles

Maybe it will have more details that will help put them in the area at the time or show that one or both were out of town at the time of Cindy's disappearance.

IMO, 12 year old Dawn looks very similar to Cindy, enough that they could be related, but I really don't think these guys had a "type". They were opportunists and seemed to mostly go after parked couples at night, but not always. They snatched single females walking down the street during the day, pretended to be good samaritans and helped stranded female motorists at night, etc.

I wonder if authorities ever considered them in Cindy's case or were they blinded by that "I love you Cindy, GW" graffiti wild goose chase. That double murder two days before Cindy went missing is SO CLOSE to her place of work. As close as half a mile. The street they were abducted from is a cross street to the street where Cindy worked. Her law office would likely have been getting the local daily newspapers delivered to them. I wonder if it was reported before she went missing and if she read about such a horrible crime happening so close to her.

FWIW, these brothers are about 9 or 10 years apart in age and the older brother, Anthony, was the primary instigator in these crimes. He was 24 when he committed his first known rape/murder, and that means his little brother Nathaniel was only about 14. Anthony went to jail for a few years for robbery, and when he got out, his brother was an adult and they started raping and murdering together. But not always. Sometimes Anthony didn't include his brother in some of the crimes. Maybe Nathaniel was working out of town during those rapes/murders, so couldn't commit those crimes with his brother?

I still want to know why it appears that neither one of them was tried for Dawn's horrifying torture/rape/murder, when they were both known to be involved. Dawn's mother said something like, "They were especially cruel to her. She was just an innocent 12 year old girl." The scene where her brutalized body was found even sickened veteran cops. (I won't go into detail.)

If they'd been tried and convicted of that crime, which includes kidnapping, raping, and killing a child (all first degree felonies, I think) they wouldn't likely be looking at any parole at all, but I don't know what Ohio's laws were at the time. I read a lot of quotes in the news articles by people who work for and with the Ohio prison system (and some prisoner advocates) who were saying things like, "We always need to remember that all prisoners are being prepared for eventual release." And, "prison isn't for the punishment of prisoners." Uh, yeah, okay, whatever... is it a vacation then? Idiots.

To those people, I suggest the Cook brothers as exhibits #1 and #2 for proof that some people are too dangerous to ever be released.

I just watched Cindy's segment.

I think I know why she was having scary dreams of being attacked, abducted, murdered. Romance novels.

She was 19-20 years old during the time she was reading them and they always have scenes where the fair maiden is kidnapped, ravished, placed in peril, etc.

I've had dreams about scenes from books I've read and I'm sure lots of other people have had books or movies influence their dreams.

Cindy's home life was likely fairly uneventful, quite sheltered, without a lot of drama, or any real violence. Books, TV, movies, would probably be the only places she'd be exposed to something so scary.

So, if she was really having those nightmares, imo, her reading material is more likely the cause rather than them being some kind of morbid premonition.

Combine her reading material with a year of nightmares of being attacked and murdered, 10 months of giant "I Love You Cindy, by GW" signs popping up outside her office window, she's getting weird phone calls, and then, while all by herself at work, she picks up another dang romance novel.

She gets to the part where the woman is abducted at knife point. Maybe that was finally just too much. It freaks her out by bringing back memories of the nightmares, the graffiti, and the weird phone calls, so she stops reading at that point and puts the book down.

There's my explanation for why her book is marked at the only violent scene.

She's creeped out, wants to get out of the office, get fresh air, something to drink, whatever, takes her purse and walks over to one of the restaurants in the strip mall.

I've frequently considered that since there was no sign of a struggle in the office, and her purse, with her keys in it, were the only thing missing with her, that she stepped out of the office, locked it with her keys, put her keys back in her purse, and was abducted from the parking lot. I think it happened while she was walking over to the pizza hut or mcdonalds or standing by the building drinking a soda, etc.

See the overhead view of 532 E Manhattan Blvd, Toledo, OH 43608 ‎on a map (I don't know exactly in which part of that strip mall her office was located) but that is a big parking lot. Most of those buildings look old enough to be there when Cindy went missing. IMO, it looks like a place that would be easy enough to bundle a small 5'4" woman into a car and take off with her without causing too much of a scene.

According to the Toledo Blade article, she was seen at 9:45 am but by 10:00 am, phone calls to the law office were going unanswered. Feldstein and Rabbitt said they arrive at the office from downtown, at about noon.

FWIW, this link says that the Cook brothers I was wondering about were considered as suspects, but denied involvement. http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t7956.htm

----

Now for some more ramblings. lol Sorry....

Rabbitt and Feldstien. pft. What a couple of characters these guys are. If I was a UM noob and didn't know anything about this case, I'd swear those two were involved in Cindy's disappearance.

Their actions seem suspicious, if it happened the way it was shown in the reenactment. Their secretary is missing. She has left the place locked, but didn't put the phones on hold, like she would have done if she was going to be out. They go to her desk and pick up her romance novel.

Jay Feldstein: "Hey Jim, come back here and take a look at this. Take a look at this thing. Look at that page it's turned to." (The violent knifepoint abduction scene)

James Rabbitt: It wasn't until really looking at the book, particularly reading the passage in the novel, I had a sickening feeling that something was wrong."

And then there's that newspaper article linked upthread where one of them says he "just knew she wasn't coming back". Just like that. Her car's in the parking lot, there's no sign that a struggle took place, but he knows she's gone forever.

That whole scenario seems odd. If you came into your office to discover your coworker wasn't there, would you pick up their silly romance novel and look for clues? I'd be asking other tenants in that strip mall if they'd seen Cindy or if she'd come in to visit with them that morning. Then I might call her family to see if she'd gone home ill or if there'd been a family emergency. Plus, one source linked here says her brother and father had been in court that morning with one of those lawyers. So obviously, Rabbitt and Feldstein both knew they had been dealing with Cindy's family in some kind of legal proceeding that day. Depending on what that was all about, maybe Cindy was upset about that and was just sitting in the parking lot in her mom's car or something, discussing those issues.

But she's missing, without a note as to where she went or when she'd be back, and they start reading her romance novel, which convinces them that she's never coming back.....

I just watched Cindy's segment.

I think I know why she was having scary dreams of being attacked, abducted, murdered. Romance novels.

She was 19-20 years old during the time she was reading them and they always have scenes where the fair maiden is kidnapped, ravished, placed in peril, etc.

I've had dreams about scenes from books I've read and I'm sure lots of other people have had books or movies influence their dreams.

Cindy's home life was likely fairly uneventful, quite sheltered, without a lot of drama, or any real violence. Books, TV, movies, would probably be the only places she'd be exposed to something so scary.

So, if she was really having those nightmares, imo, her reading material is more likely the cause rather than them being some kind of morbid premonition.

Combine her reading material with a year of nightmares of being attacked and murdered, 10 months of giant "I Love You Cindy, by GW" signs popping up outside her office window, she's getting weird phone calls, and then, while all by herself at work, she picks up another dang romance novel.

Excellent point! I'd be apt to agree.


According to the Toledo Blade article, she was seen at 9:45 am but by 10:00 am, phone calls to the law office were going unanswered. Feldstein and Rabbitt said they arrive at the office from downtown, at about noon.

FWIW, this link says that the Cook brothers I was wondering about were considered as suspects, but denied involvement. http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t7956.htm

Is mid- to late-morning a time the Cooks would have likely committed the type of crimes they committed? I'm not sure what time of the day they typically preferred to do the horrible things that they did. If a number of their victims were accosted during a similar time, I think I'd be pretty well sold on those guys being responsible, despite what they said.

Also, I noticed as well and totally agree: Dawn Backes and Cindy share a resemblance that's downright uncanny.

But she's missing, without a note as to where she went or when she'd be back, and they start reading her romance novel, which convinces them that she's never coming back.....

Yeah, the reenactment was strange. I think this might have been yet another "UM treatment" of something that probably, IRL, followed something closer to what you described: the two men looked for Cindy, asked around through the shopping center, came back in, and called her family. Maybe after hearing from anyone who happened to answer the phone that Cindy wasn't home, THAT'S when they started to dig around the office. It was at that point they found the book, and found the passage in the novel. Already on edge because their secretary has disappeared without a trace and no one around them seems to know where she has gone, this heightens their collective fear tenfold. Of course, that's the dramatic part, and that's what made it in into the UM segment.

Is mid- to late-morning a time the Cooks would have likely committed the type of crimes they committed? I'm not sure what time of the day they typically preferred to do the horrible things that they did. If a number of their victims were accosted during a similar time, I think I'd be pretty well sold on those guys being responsible, despite what they said.

I've been reading other sites, and they're still not ruled out, at least at the time of the writings that I was looking at.

The Cooks seem to have preferred to abduct couples parked in cars. I didn't find any info on time of day, but due to circumstances, (couple returning from date, couple had just "kissed goodnight" etc) I assumed these abductions took place between 8:00pm and 1:00am.

Anthony abducted a woman who was with her friends when they had car trouble. He offered to take her to go get help. She was murdered and found the same day, but I don't know what time of day it all happened.

Dawn was last seen at 10:30pm after leaving a pizza parlor arcade, where she'd been with her friends.

There was a couple abducted while walking together in an alley. They survived. It doesn't give a time of day.

A woman hitchiking near a medical center was abducted and murdered. No time of day given.

One couple was sitting in their car in an apartment parking lot. They were preparing to meet coworkers for drinks that night. They were last seen at 6:00pm.

Another couple, parked in front of the woman's house, "shortly after they returned" from a trip to Florida. Doesn't say what time of day they were abducted.

Another couple were parked, drinking in the back of a van. The woman's father was murdered when she called him for help. Doesn't say what time of day

FWIW, their victims were all ages 12 - 24, with early 20s being the most common, and the exception of the one lady's 43 year old father.

This site has a lot of links to the google newspaper archives on the Cook's serial killings: http://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/deadly-duo-anthony-and-nathaniel-cook-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-killing-nine-people/

I've been reading other sites, and they're still not ruled out, at least at the time of the writings that I was looking at.

The Cooks seem to have preferred to abduct couples parked in cars. I didn't find any info on time of day, but due to circumstances, (couple returning from date, couple had just "kissed goodnight" etc) I assumed these abductions took place between 8:00pm and 1:00am.

Anthony abducted a woman who was with her friends when they had car trouble. He offered to take her to go get help. She was murdered and found the same day, but I don't know what time of day it all happened.

Dawn was last seen at 10:30pm after leaving a pizza parlor arcade, where she'd been with her friends.

There was a couple abducted while walking together in an alley. They survived. It doesn't give a time of day.

A woman hitchiking near a medical center was abducted and murdered. No time of day given.

One couple was sitting in their car in an apartment parking lot. They were preparing to meet coworkers for drinks that night. They were last seen at 6:00pm.

Another couple, parked in front of the woman's house, "shortly after they returned" from a trip to Florida. Doesn't say what time of day they were abducted.

Another couple were parked, drinking in the back of a van. The woman's father was murdered when she called him for help. Doesn't say what time of day

FWIW, their victims were all ages 12 - 24, with early 20s being the most common, and the exception of the one lady's 43 year old father.

This site has a lot of links to the google newspaper archives on the Cook's serial killings: http://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/deadly-duo-anthony-and-nathaniel-cook-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-killing-nine-people/

Thanks for the info, Tracy. You've done a lot of work here!

I'm really, really thinking these might be the guys.

Thanks for the info, Tracy. You've done a lot of work here!

I'm really, really thinking these might be the guys.

I just wish I could find out where they worked and lived. Usually old news articles will say "Anthony Cook, of 234 Oak Avenue" etc... but these don't even narrow it down to "Anthony Cook, of the 200 block of Oak Avenue".

They're giving me nothing. I'm gonna end up buying that book, I linked upthread, I'm sure! lol It better have some good details!

I also want to know exactly which part of the strip mall the law offices were located in. I'm making a wild guess and saying that it's where the Family Dollar store is now, but who knows. Old articles don't give a good address for the law offices, either.

Also, they don't say anything about the Cook brothers' work. Just that they were interstate truckers and that Anthony abducted Dawn on his way home from work. All very vague.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the articles about Dawn said that Anthony abducted her and took her to "an" apartment to pick up his brother Nathaniel. They didn't even specify if it was actually Nathaniel's apartment. Maybe he was crashing with friends? I dunno, that's vague too.

Knowing where they lived and worked would be so helpful in figuring out if they'd be passing by that strip mall, or conducting any business, around 9:45 on the morning Cindy went missing.

I do have this far out there theory..... these guys were truckers, don't know what kind, do know that they went to other states.

All the buildings near Cindy's work have loading docks. There's one on the back of each of the buildings that look like they could have housed the law offices at one time. One of the docks looks like it's currently used for the USPS. Don't know if it was there back in 1981. The one on the back of that bigger building connected to the Dollar Store looks like it's been there a while.

Further down the long parking lot there's a Kmart and a grocery store. Truckers have to pull in and out of those places all the time. On the bing bird's eye view, you can even see semis parked behind the kmart (before it went out of business) and the post office, depending on which way you turn the view.

Maybe one of these guys was "driving home from work" when he spotted Cindy. Just like how he says he found Dawn, who was "forced into his truck". I just don't know if it was a semi or a pickup truck.

And I just noticed this: The buildings in Cindy's strip mall back up to I75. The service road for that expressway feeds right into her parking lot from behind the building. There are actually two big driveways that connect those entire parking lots, front and back, right to the I75 service drive. I wonder if those were there in 81. No matter who abducted Cindy, it looks like that would make for a faster getaway, with fewer witnesses, than trying to go down Manhattan Blvd at 10 in the morning with all those residential cross streets.

Nothing to do with the case, but creepy for me... I also just realized that I passed right behind her building twice the summer she went missing (and at least twice every year between 1969 and 1988, unless they moved I75 around since those days) because I always left Detroit and spent the summers and sometimes winter holidays in Tennessee. We took I75 all the way down to Mt. Vernon KY and then took the back roads from there down to I40.

I just wish I could find out where they worked and lived. Usually old news articles will say "Anthony Cook, of 234 Oak Avenue" etc... but these don't even narrow it down to "Anthony Cook, of the 200 block of Oak Avenue".

They're giving me nothing. I'm gonna end up buying that book, I linked upthread, I'm sure! lol It better have some good details!

I also want to know exactly which part of the strip mall the law offices were located in. I'm making a wild guess and saying that it's where the Family Dollar store is now, but who knows. Old articles don't give a good address for the law offices, either.

Also, they don't say anything about the Cook brothers' work. Just that they were interstate truckers and that Anthony abducted Dawn on his way home from work. All very vague.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the articles about Dawn said that Anthony abducted her and took her to "an" apartment to pick up his brother Nathaniel. They didn't even specify if it was actually Nathaniel's apartment. Maybe he was crashing with friends? I dunno, that's vague too.

Knowing where they lived and worked would be so helpful in figuring out if they'd be passing by that strip mall, or conducting any business, around 9:45 on the morning Cindy went missing.

I do have this far out there theory..... these guys were truckers, don't know what kind, do know that they went to other states.

All the buildings near Cindy's work have loading docks. There's one on the back of each of the buildings that look like they could have housed the law offices at one time. One of the docks looks like it's currently used for the USPS. Don't know if it was there back in 1981. The one on the back of that bigger building connected to the Dollar Store looks like it's been there a while.

Further down the long parking lot there's a Kmart and a grocery store. Truckers have to pull in and out of those places all the time. On the bing bird's eye view, you can even see semis parked behind the kmart (before it went out of business) and the post office, depending on which way you turn the view.

Maybe one of these guys was "driving home from work" when he spotted Cindy. Just like how he says he found Dawn, who was "forced into his truck". I just don't know if it was a semi or a pickup truck.

And I just noticed this: The buildings in Cindy's strip mall back up to I75. The service road for that expressway feeds right into her parking lot from behind the building. There are actually two big driveways that connect those entire parking lots, front and back, right to the I75 service drive. I wonder if those were there in 81. No matter who abducted Cindy, it looks like that would make for a faster getaway, with fewer witnesses, than trying to go down Manhattan Blvd at 10 in the morning with all those residential cross streets.

Nothing to do with the case, but creepy for me... I also just realized that I passed right behind her building twice the summer she went missing (and at least twice every year between 1969 and 1988, unless they moved I75 around since those days) because I always left Detroit and spent the summers and sometimes winter holidays in Tennessee. We took I75 all the way down to Mt. Vernon KY and then took the back roads from there down to I40.

All great observations, especially the loading dock piece.

I had no idea the strip mall was backed up to 75 (or that you spent time in Tennessee!). That means I've passed right by it without even knowing it in the opposite direction: from Tennessee to Detroit! The proximity of the interstate doesn't seem to be a good thing in Cindy's case. :(

(or that you spent time in Tennessee!)

OFF TOPIC

Yep, my whole family is from Tennessee. I even lived there for a while and my parents still own property there. We just got stuck living in Michigan because that's where the jobs were, back in the day.

Now my parents live in Florida, my husband works in Ohio, and my kids live and work work in Michigan, so we sort of compromised, and stayed in Michigan to be with the kids, but still near enough to Ohio that hubby has short commute to work.

Like the others, I think she's long dead due to having overheard too much and is held/buried somewhere. Where that is, we'll probably never know.

The people who think she ran away are crazy. Cindy loved her sis and mother very much--don't you think she would have at least reached out to them by now? I laugh at the people trying to use that idiot father as reason for that ludicrious hypothesis.

Her father is a total ass though. I bet Cindy and the rest of her siblings have a really hard upbringing at the hands of him. He didn't seem that concerned at all that his daughter was missing. At the end of his interview he even smiles into the camera. What the hell is up with that?

I noticed that really strange smile at the end of the interview. Something was going on between her father and her. I am convinced. It may not have had anything to do with her disappearance, but something just seemed off there. The father has since passed away, so whatever may have been going on between him and her died with him. Just that much more about this case that will never be known. :(

I think Cindy's father was optimistic. I highly doubt he was happy his daughter was missing and in fact shortly before his death he gave an interview where he held her picture and really expressed hope in finding her (circa. 2008). The segment was filmed in 1989, I believe, so Cindy had been missing for 8 years. A lot of people process grief differently and perhaps for Mr. Anderson, hope was his way of coping. Perhaps his religious beliefs gave him faith and hope that he would see his daughter again. That is how I interpreted his smile at the end of the segment.

While I was at first put off by his comments about her skipping breakfast and acting like a debutante, I now see it as a genuine fatherly concern. She wasn't eating enough for the sake of her appearance, which is a hazard to health. I don't think he meant it was ''part of the problem'' that led to her disappearance, just that it was a problem that was going on around the time she vanished. In fact, he makes some comments about her being a daughter one enjoys, a lovely girl who never picked fights with her parents.

I may be reading between the lines here, but perhaps any issue between father and daughter had to do with the strict fundamental Christianity that the family practiced. That may have felt too restrictive for Cindy. Maybe he wasn't happy that she had a boyfriend. But I really don't think that there'S anything to indicate that he had anything to do with her vanishing. And I'll never believe that this is the case of a runaway.

Bump.

TracyLynn, your theory about Cindy going out into the parking lot for a breather is a great theory. She was known to put the phones on hold, but she could have forgotten, especially if she was shaken after reading a scary moment in a book. It's terrifying to think of anyone getting abducted in broad daylight, but it happens. Perhaps she thought that was an opportune time to get lunch and in a terrible irony, something bad happened.

I believe the best theory was her overhearing something illegal going on in the attorney's office and someone killed her to silence her.

I believe the best theory was her overhearing something illegal going on in the attorney's office and someone killed her to silence her.
It would be far less of a coincidence than some random person grabbing her. I know there was an informant who claimed he knew who killed her, but I guess there was never enough evidence against him.

The Cook brothers operating nearby is pretty interesting, though, and makes me wonder if they could have been involved.

I think Cindy's father was optimistic. I highly doubt he was happy his daughter was missing and in fact shortly before his death he gave an interview where he held her picture and really expressed hope in finding her (circa. 2008). The segment was filmed in 1989, I believe, so Cindy had been missing for 8 years. A lot of people process grief differently and perhaps for Mr. Anderson, hope was his way of coping. Perhaps his religious beliefs gave him faith and hope that he would see his daughter again. That is how I interpreted his smile at the end of the segment.

While I was at first put off by his comments about her skipping breakfast and acting like a debutante, I now see it as a genuine fatherly concern. She wasn't eating enough for the sake of her appearance, which is a hazard to health. I don't think he meant it was ''part of the problem'' that led to her disappearance, just that it was a problem that was going on around the time she vanished. In fact, he makes some comments about her being a daughter one enjoys, a lovely girl who never picked fights with her parents.

I may be reading between the lines here, but perhaps any issue between father and daughter had to do with the strict fundamental Christianity that the family practiced. That may have felt too restrictive for Cindy. Maybe he wasn't happy that she had a boyfriend. But I really don't think that there'S anything to indicate that he had anything to do with her vanishing. And I'll never believe that this is the case of a runaway.
Yeah I got the sense that her dad was a very conservative personality and that she was perhaps at odds with him because of it whether she expressed it to him or not. Many children of parents like this often rebel at some point or as adults.

My thoughts on the case was a random abduction. I thought it could be someone who came into the office at some point but less likely a client that could be traced to her. it could just be someone that saw her briefly and abducted her and makes it much more difficult to solve. As far as the tips this wouldn't be the first case that had promising leads that proved to be unrelated. I saw the wiki page... who is this Rodriguez suspect? It says he was part of a drug ring but doesn't clarify how Cindy was involved with it.

I saw the wiki page... who is this Rodriguez suspect? It says he was part of a drug ring but doesn't clarify how Cindy was involved with it.
It's been speculated that Cindy overheard something she shouldn't have at work about drugs. An informant said that Rodriguez killed her to silence her, but nothing has ever been proven. Rodriguez' attorney worked at the law office so she may have heard them speaking about illicit drug deals. Both of them (Rodriguez and his lawyer) are serving time for drug involvement.

Here's Cindy's CP page for more info: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/anderson_cynthia.html

It's been speculated that Cindy overheard something she shouldn't have at work about drugs. An informant said that Rodriguez killed her to silence her, but nothing has ever been proven. Rodriguez' attorney worked at the law office so she may have heard them speaking about illicit drug deals. Both of them (Rodriguez and his lawyer) are serving time for drug involvement.

Here's Cindy's CP page for more info: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/anderson_cynthia.html
Well.....

I just finished reading Evil Brothers, written in 2008, by the lead investigator in the Cook brothers crimes.

He believes that Cindy Anderson left her office to walk to the nearby McDonalds and was abducted in the parking lot. He doesn't bring up anything about Neller and Rodriquez being suspects in her disappearance and he would have known about them at the time the book was written.

He's almost completely ruled the Cook brothers out in her case solely because Cindy went missing during the day and they abducted people at night. Although he did mention at least one case they're suspected in where it's not known what time of day the victim went missing. The brothers are also suspected in a lot more cases than what's listed here and on murderpedia.

In the thread on recommended books, I'll post more info. The book does answer some of the questions I mentioned here such as their employment details, where they lived, etc. These guys were so creepy, especially Anthony, who was such a weirdo, he tried to have sex with his own sister.

OFF TOPIC

Cook brothers:

http://www.drc.ohio.gov/ Choose "offender information" then "offender search" from the drop down menu.

An offender search here shows that Anthony Cook is due for his first parole hearing next year.

It looks like they were never convicted for their crimes against Dawn Backes. I don't think they were tried for a lot of the crimes they committed. I can't tell if they plead down in exchange for confessions or if officials thought convictions on a few cases were enough to keep them in prison so the other cases weren't tried.


Anthony Cook's convictions -

Murder of male adult
Attempted rape of female adult
Aggravated robbery of male adult
Attempted murder of male adult
Aggravated murder of male adult


Nathaniel Cook's convictions -

Attempted aggravated murder of male adult
Kidnapping of female adult




There's nothing about the torture/rape/murder of a child in their convictions. With only kidnapping and attempted murder on Nathaniel's charges, he could actually get out in four years. This is nuts.

The book answered this question, re: parole and why they weren't charged in all the cases they confessed to.

Apparently in Ohio, no matter how many murders they were convicted of, they could never be sentenced to more time than they already got for these crimes.

If they'd been convicted of a million rapes and murders, they would have still gotten sentences that would run concurrent, still serve the same amount of time, and still come up for parole at regular intervals.

Nathaniel admitted that along with his brother Anthony, he raped, tortured, and murdered a 12 year old (among other rapes and murders he confessed to). He was never tried for it and has no murder conviction, yet he could be walking among us in just three years.

Anthony is convicted of Murder and Aggravated Murder. He is up for parole in just two months.

The book answered this question, re: parole and why they weren't charged in all the cases they confessed to.

Apparently in Ohio, no matter how many murders they were convicted of, they could never be sentenced to more time than they already got for these crimes.

If they'd been convicted of a million rapes and murders, they would have still gotten sentences that would run concurrent, still serve the same amount of time, and still come up for parole at regular intervals.

Nathaniel admitted that along with his brother Anthony, he raped, tortured, and murdered a 12 year old (among other rapes and murders he confessed to). He was never tried for it and has no murder conviction, yet he could be walking among us in just three years.

Anthony is convicted of Murder and Aggravated Murder. He is up for parole in just two months.

this book sounds interesting judging by your account , does the book have pictures of the brothers, victims, crime scenes etc ?

I believe the best theory was her overhearing something illegal going on in the attorney's office and someone killed her to silence her.

I just read this whole thread again. I agree with this scenario. It all fits: Her absence in a locked office, her nightmares, etc. She heard something she wasn't supposed to.

There's been lots of commentary about how what she heard didn't matter because it was covered by attorney/client privilege. That's not necessarily true. I am bound to my clients UNLESS they tell me they are going to hurt themselves or someone else. If she overheard someone discussing a murder plan, I can see where she'd be considered a liability.

Also, even though my legal assistant isn't in my personal office with me all day, I guarantee you that she knows EVERYTHING that is going on in the office. This is because she will be called upon to answer questions from people if I'm not in the office. She knows more than just answering the phones, for sure.

Sad about her dad. I hope he was reunited with her. I have a crazy hard time believing she would just walk away from it all.

this book sounds interesting judging by your account , does the book have pictures of the brothers, victims, crime scenes etc ?


Yep, there are quite a few pictures throughout the book.

I haven't gotten around to posting in the recommended books thread yet. I'm really glad I got the book and read it. It answered a lot of questions I had regarding the Cook brothers and their crimes but I still can't decide if they were involved in Cindy's disappearance or not. They were operating right there in the exact same area where she was located, at the exact same time she went missing, and she fits their victim profile.

But the other suspects had reasons for her to vanish, too. It seems like it would be a heck of a coincidence for there to be another kidnapper/killer working the same place at the same time as the Cooks. IMO, if it wasn't them, it would likely be the shady guys connected to the law office.

The book is 228 pages long and probably the main negative point about it is that each case is gone over 3 or 4 times. We're told about how each case happened, then again during the investigation, then again during the trial, then again during sentencing. It's the same info that just seems to be basically a repeat of the specifics of each case without adding much new or different information.

Interesting info Tracy , thanks :)



While still on the subject ....when I briefly looked up the Cook Bros last night one thing that struck me was that after attacking their victims they made minimal effort to conceal their bodies and the victims were quickly found whereas there is no trace of Cindy and then when you throw in the scrawling on the walls .......I am thinking maybe those evil brothers werent involved , if they had been involved why would they not confess after being given plea deals ? If I were a betting man I would put money on the other suspects being the culprits .....

Was Cindy's mother deceased by the time the segment aired?

Was Cindy's mother deceased by the time the segment aired?

Yes.

Cindy disappeared in 1981. Her mother died of cancer in 1983. The UM segment on Cindy first aired in 1990.

I just read this whole thread again. I agree with this scenario. It all fits: Her absence in a locked office, her nightmares, etc. She heard something she wasn't supposed to.

There's been lots of commentary about how what she heard didn't matter because it was covered by attorney/client privilege. That's not necessarily true. I am bound to my clients UNLESS they tell me they are going to hurt themselves or someone else. If she overheard someone discussing a murder plan, I can see where she'd be considered a liability.

Also, even though my legal assistant isn't in my personal office with me all day, I guarantee you that she knows EVERYTHING that is going on in the office. This is because she will be called upon to answer questions from people if I'm not in the office. She knows more than just answering the phones, for sure.

Sad about her dad. I hope he was reunited with her. I have a crazy hard time believing she would just walk away from it all.

Good ensight!

the dad definitely bothers me. He didn't seem concerned at all about his daughter's disappearance and even smiled at the end? WTF

the dad definitely bothers me. He didn't seem concerned at all about his daughter's disappearance and even smiled at the end? WTF

Yeah, that always bothered me too. I hope it was just one of those, everyone grieves in different ways kind of things.

the dad definitely bothers me. He didn't seem concerned at all about his daughter's disappearance and even smiled at the end? WTF

I think he cared but he also struck me as the super-religious, over-controlling type of parent. I don't think he liked her wearing make-up and things like that.

My guess is that she learned about shady activity by the law firm and/or some clients and she was killed to prevent her from going to the cops.

I doubt that Cindy will ready the message at this point - but thanks for posting. Very sad!!

I found this in case anyone's interested. I don't know if it was posted later in the thread as I haven't gotten through all the posts yet.

https://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Wiczynski&GSiman=1&GScnty=2087&GRid=53899683&


Thanks so much for posting, very interesting! Before I read this I had thought the "maintenance man" UM talked about could have been a suspect but of course no longer think that. I don't think UM ever edited that spray painted sign out of the segment, did they? Every time I've seen it its been on there. I wish I would have seen this update thats mentioned. I watched it on Lifetime many times and have never seen it.

I think the dad cared but I think was well, he was very trusting in God from the looks of it, and definitely was on the far evangelical end of Christianity. Sometimes people act differently under stress or in challenging situations. I don't think he was happy but I think he was trusting that God would lead the way and have the answers one way or the other and that Cindy was in His care. That is just an opinion and not necessarily the fact.

The law firm or someone in it whether someone who worked there or a client of the firm or one of their associates is what in my opinion makes the most sense behind Cindy's disappearance. Most likely as has been mentioned here that she overheard something or someone thought she knew something more than she did.

Here is an article about her father. Cindy's mother passed away from cancer in 1983 and her father passed away in January of 2008. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/08/04/Woman-s-disappearance-a-mystery-after-30-years.html

Am I missing something but I thought this case was solved. Didn't they determine that she was killed by a group of guys who were doing drug deals and she overheard something?

Am I missing something but I thought this case was solved. Didn't they determine that she was killed by a group of guys who were doing drug deals and she overheard something?

The authorities had their suspicions, but nowhere near enough evidence to even attempt to prosecute the suspect. No body, no obvious crime scene, no murder weapon, etc.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cynthia_Anderson

I think the dad cared but I think was well, he was very trusting in God from the looks of it, and definitely was on the far evangelical end of Christianity. Sometimes people act differently under stress or in challenging situations. I don't think he was happy but I think he was trusting that God would lead the way and have the answers one way or the other and that Cindy was in His care. That is just an opinion and not necessarily the fact.

The law firm or someone in it whether someone who worked there or a client of the firm or one of their associates is what in my opinion makes the most sense behind Cindy's disappearance. Most likely as has been mentioned here that she overheard something or someone thought she knew something more than she did.

Here is an article about her father. Cindy's mother passed away from cancer in 1983 and her father passed away in January of 2008. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/08/04/Woman-s-disappearance-a-mystery-after-30-years.html
That's a good point well made.


I do not enjoy watching her father in the opening of the segment. But I'll say this about her dad. He had a belief system that he is entitled to have. And that does not make him a bad father. He was definitely a victim and maybe he came off poorly because of the genuine nature of UM and how it realistically captures a moment in time. In retrospect maybe UM could have done better, but it did give us real interviews from the families and you have to credit them for having the courage to go on nation TV and give candid information like that.

I never thought any ill will of the Dad he seemed like a caring parent, perhaps just overly religious though. When this case first aired it was over 6-7 years since she disappeared so you could understand him perhaps acting a little less anxious than in most other cases.

So I just re-watched this, Did any noticed the nail polish remover on the table in the meeting room where her book was?

I just read this whole thread again. I agree with this scenario. It all fits: Her absence in a locked office, her nightmares, etc. She heard something she wasn't supposed to.

There's been lots of commentary about how what she heard didn't matter because it was covered by attorney/client privilege. That's not necessarily true. I am bound to my clients UNLESS they tell me they are going to hurt themselves or someone else. If she overheard someone discussing a murder plan, I can see where she'd be considered a liability.

Also, even though my legal assistant isn't in my personal office with me all day, I guarantee you that she knows EVERYTHING that is going on in the office. This is because she will be called upon to answer questions from people if I'm not in the office. She knows more than just answering the phones, for sure.

Sad about her dad. I hope he was reunited with her. I have a crazy hard time believing she would just walk away from it all.


Agreed.

Most likely it was the attorney she worked for and the drug trafficker.

What's eerie is in the segment, I believe Stack says Cindy had dreams where her 'trust was betrayed by someone she knew.'

Could that be the attorney she knew and worked for?

Agreed.

Most likely it was the attorney she worked for and the drug trafficker.

What's eerie is in the segment, I believe Stack says Cindy had dreams where her 'trust was betrayed by someone she knew.'

Could that be the attorney she knew and worked for?

It makes you wonder if she knew the people in the law office were up to shady activity before she learned what ultimately lead to her death. I can see someone who was a pretty straight arrow (Cindy) learning that the people she worked for were unethical/illegal and that caused pretty bad internal strife, which could easily lead to nightmares. Perhaps she couldn't or didn't want to bring this up to her parents. Later, she learned about the drug activity and was killed to keep her quiet.

Perhaps she couldn't or didn't want to bring this up to her parents. Later, she learned about the drug activity and was killed to keep her quiet.

She almost certainly would have had to sign a non-disclosure statement to accept the job as she would have possibly been privy to information that was covered under attorney-client confidentiality. I think the "couldn't tell" is more likely than the "didn't want to tell."

It's been a while since I posted here. My wife and I are big fans of UM, and this was one of our favorite cases. She let me know about "the real Cindy" posting on GW (thanks so much, Cindy).

I'm not sold on Cindy Anderson being the victim of a drug-related murder. So much of that theory is based on the belief that Cindy must have known intimate details of the drug-running operations that the legal firm she worked for was involved in. I'm not certain about that. My late mother worked as a legal secretary for some years, and she would be the first to admit that she didn't know the lion's share of the details of what went on in her office. Her job was to answer the phone, keep her boss's appointment book, and type form letters...and that was about it. She was about the same age as Cindy when she started working for the law firm, and had about the same education level. I can't imagine that Cindy was asked to do much more than my mother was.

One might say that maybe Cindy overheard something about the drug operations and so she was a target for silencing. Again, I'm not sold. Lawyers take confidentiality pretty seriously even for completely innocuous legal concerns. I doubt they'd be discussing drug transactions in the presence of a third party, even if that third party is a "mere" secretary. Furthermore, Cindy's disappearance occurred in 1981. Neller and Rodriguez weren't arrested until 1994. You'd think anybody sloppy enough to let a third party know about their drug-dealing schemes wouldn't be around for thirteen more years.

The law office where Cindy worked was in a busy strip mall. "The real Cindy" says there was a Pizza Hut within sight of the office. Could Cindy have been forcibly abducted from such a busy place in broad daylight without anyone noticing? I doubt it.

Rodriguez's potential involvement in the disappearance is intriguing but far from proven. Prosecutors weren't even aware of any potential connection until a cellmate claimed that Rodriguez had "boasted" of the murder. Sometimes these jailhouse claims are true, sometimes they're not. Apart from that claim--which a judge threw out as "unreliable"*--there's no evidence that Rodriguez was involved.


Just watched this one again. Came searching for the most recent thread on it, found this one and read it from beginning to end. As creepy/off-putting as Cindy's father may have been, I don't think he ever had anything to do with her disappearance. I also read with interest, the various theories on her running away/staging her own disappearance and could definitely see how that might've been the case, but personally, don't think that was it either.

So, like many others who've posted in this thread, I arrived at the inevitable "drug dealing conspiracy" conclusion. This particular response though, specifically the bolded sections, do resonate with me.

Not much is known about Neller, but are we to believe he's sloppy enough to discuss that kind of extremely sensitive & illegal stuff within earshot of a completely innocent person? Sure, if she stumbled in on something at the wrong moment or was snooping around and saw something she wasn't supposed to, this whole theory would seem solid. However there was never any indication, let alone evidence, this was the case and so we're back at square one. This doesn't sit right with me.

Not only that, but the time gap between when Cindy disappeared and both Neller/Rodriguez were arrested is too large to ignore. Let's say for a moment Neller was sloppy enough to let his shady & sinister dealings be overheard. If he's sloppy enough here, I'd say it's reasonable that he'd be sloppy with other things or in other areas, so much so that I agree they would've attracted suspicion far sooner than the 13 years it took for them to get nabbed.

Finally if that last bolded portion is true and Rodriguez' entire involvement is nothing but jailhouse hearsay, then I'd seriously start to doubt the whole theory.

Getting to the last few pages of this thread, the info about the Cook brothers provided by Tracy really got my gears spinning (forget on which page it was first posted). Aside from the time of day when Cindy vanished, I'm now more inclined to believe that they're responsible.

What about her boyfriend? Very little was mentioned about him. I assume he was investigated and cleared? He has to be the prime suspect.

I never thought any ill will of the Dad he seemed like a caring parent, perhaps just overly religious though. When this case first aired it was over 6-7 years since she disappeared so you could understand him perhaps acting a little less anxious than in most other cases.

I was kind of hard on him a few years back in this thread and I feel I should take it back. I still think his debutante comments were cringe worthy (most women don't wait until the age of 20 to start wearing a little makeup like Cindy did) but he was as advertised in the segment. A very religious man who brought his children up in a VERY strict household. It doesn't mean he didn't love Cindy or that she may have been trying to run away from him forever.

And even if she did not want to live with her father anymore, that would be no reason for her to take off, abandon her boyfriend and make no contact with her three siblings for 30+ years...not even after the eventual death of her mother just two years later.

It seems like people raised in overly religious environments go one of two ways - they either become fundies themselves, or they veer very far away from that lifestyle.

It may just be wishful thinking on my part (I'm normally more realistic, I think, when it comes to cases), but I like to think she realized she could be treated like an actual person and decided to leave that life behind.

Even if he wasn't the real GW, I don't think that automatically clears the maintenance man.

It seems like people raised in overly religious environments go one of two ways - they either become fundies themselves, or they veer very far away from that lifestyle.

I agree. I'm sure there are some who can find middle ground but I believe the majority go one way or the other.

It may just be wishful thinking on my part (I'm normally more realistic, I think, when it comes to cases), but I like to think she realized she could be treated like an actual person and decided to leave that life behind.

I struggle with that only because of where she was in her life at the time. She was 20. She was ten days away from going to college. She was at a point where she was about to be more independent and could start shaping her life in the way she saw fit. Running away from her siblings, her mother, her boyfriend and all her friends (and then 36 years of no contact with ANY of them) seems like such an extreme and unnecessary reaction, almost to point of insanity. It would be like a football player stopping at the 1 yard line and instead of running in the end zone, turning and going out of bounds.

I struggle with that only because of where she was in her life at the time. She was 20. She was ten days away from going to college. She was at a point where she was about to be more independent and could start shaping her life in the way she saw fit. Running away from her siblings, her mother, her boyfriend and all her friends (and then 36 years of no contact with ANY of them) seems like such an extreme and unnecessary reaction, almost to point of insanity. It would be like a football player stopping at the 1 yard line and instead of running in the end zone, turning and going out of bounds.

And you're absolutely right. Like I said, just wishful thinking on my part. What you said makes much more sense.

Today is Cynthia Anderson's birthday so I thought I'd bump this thread. If she is still alive today, she would be 63. I've always been fascinated with this case. It's sad and eerie at the same time. Her mother passed away from cancer two years after she disappeared as well as her father 18 years after the UM segment aired. As far as I know, she has not contacted any family members including her siblings. I assume they were pretty close. I watched the segment again and I wonder, were the dreams that she was having prior to her disappearance some kind of interpretation that she was becoming disillusioned with her strict religious upbringing and was struggling to get away from it?

A strict religious household is one thing. There is no doubt Cindy's dad loved her and still did. I am sure he knew how the world worked and such. He was old fashioned, and that's really about it.

But never did it strike me that Cindy leaves her entire family over this and is never seen again. No, she was murdered. Like others have said, in her field she would have heard things, maybe stumbled on somethings. There are witnesses in her family saying the things about the bad dreams and there is even the one client who witnessed her being distraught after a bad phone call.

Plus the graffiti on the wall. There is too much to not thing she was murdered. It is a case that makes the hair stand on the back of your head because it seems like she vanished out of thin air.

I'm pretty sure we had an update where police believed she was killed because she heard something she should not have while working at the law office-- probably drugs/gun related.

She almost certainly would have had to sign a non-disclosure statement to accept the job as she would have possibly been privy to information that was covered under attorney-client confidentiality. I think the "couldn't tell" is more likely than the "didn't want to tell."

Huh.. You know, this, while I realize this post is ~6 years old.. Got me thinking..

NDAs can no longer be used to prevent someone from talking about illegal activity.. We're mainly seeing this from things like the latest Vince McMahon situation and, in general, the focus of the law was more towards sex abuse. Where a settlement would be reached and an NDA signed. I presume, but don't know for sure that the original Michael Jackson abuse case went along these lines as well..

So, how does all this tie in to people who work at a legal office? If you're an attorney, you can't disclose many things due to attorney/client privilege, but what if you're a secretary? You'd most likely see documents or perhaps overhear conversations.. You'd not be restricted by A/C privilege and, if an NDA wouldn't prevent you from talking about it anymore.. How exactly would that work?

Not really relevant to this case, but.. Just, the above post got me to thinking. Dangerous thing, that.. Anyone in the legal field that can shed some light on this?

It doesn't sound like the drug conspiracy theory is that convincing. Based on everything we know in 2024, I would say a more likely scenario is that someone targeted Cindy for a kidnapping/sexual assault/murder. It could have been one of the drug dealers that was in/out of the office for meetings, or it could have been another customer, or even someone that was familiar with the strip mall. Someone that she would have let her guard down around and not triggered the alarm button at her desk. I think that's the most likely scenario.

ok, so when i was in Junior High, my moms Best Friend, Gilda Caudell, said she heard her then Boyfriend, Vince Buchanan, talking to his lawyer friends about how they killed that woman and fed her body to pigs so she would never be found. i always thought this was just a crazy story, but now i see this episode is real and i wonder if her story was too. go find gilda caudel or her daughter kendra caudel, they lived in dunbrideg ohio on dunbridge road at the time.