MD MD - Cynthia Gastelle, 18, Takoma Park, 3 Apr 1980

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

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Cynthia Joan Gastelle

Endangered Missing from Takoma Park, Maryland since April 3, 1980

Age: 18 -- Height: 5'0" -- Weight: 90 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Brown


Cynthia was last seen in Takoma Park, Maryland on April 3, 1980. She has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case.


Doe Network

NamUs

Charley Project
 
I just did a mapquest from where Cynthia was last seen compared to where her body was found. Only 45 miles between the two. It took 30 years and DNA to make the match! I understand that Cynthia wasn't put into the the Missing people databases until last year, but wonder when she was actually reported missing?
 
I just did a mapquest from where Cynthia was last seen compared to where her body was found. Only 45 miles between the two. It took 30 years and DNA to make the match! I understand that Cynthia wasn't put into the the Missing people databases until last year, but wonder when she was actually reported missing?

:eek: That's a really good question!!! Did anyone Google and see if there were any old requests for help to find her?
 
:eek: That's a really good question!!! Did anyone Google and see if there were any old requests for help to find her?

From what I found it on a google search, it looked like everything shown of her reported recent two years. I didn't look thru any Maryland newspaper archives, but I am hoping she was reported missing to some LE...
 
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/cold-cases/

Whatever happened to 18-year old Cynthia Joan Gastelle is one of those whodunit cases Coady is handling. She was reported missing to the Takoma Park police in Maryland by her family on April 3, 1980. On February 12, 1982, Prince William police found skeletal remains on Bull Run Mountain off of Mountain Road in the Haymarket area.

Investigators didn’t know who she was, where she came from or how she got to where she was found. “They had a possibility of how she died but it wasn’t a concrete sort of thing at the time, where it was enough to know it was murder,” Coady says...

There is no evidence of the perpetrator in that case, though they do have a picture of a former boyfriend who they consider a person of interest.
 
This case involves what would appear to be an abduction, murder, and transportation of the victim across state lines - from Maryland to Virginia.

I wonder if this case might be related to some other similar abuction/murders of young girls which occurred in and arround the Virginia, DC, Maryland area around that same time frame. Here are a few:

Kimberly Christine Mileo, 21, Missing June 1983 from Croom, Maryland

Katherine O'Neil Anderson , 24, Missing 20 April 1979 from Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/930dfmd.html


Gina Renee Hall, 18, Missing since June 28, 1980 from Radford, VA

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2147dfva.html


Zita Cecilia Gutierrez, 24, Missing since August 22, 1980 from Bethesda, MD

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/820dfmd.html


Virginia Alice Welch, 22, Missing since July 12, 1982 from Roanoke, VA

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1502dfva.html

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-1982-from-Roanoke-VA&p=11574757#post11574757


Catherine Worsky, 12, Missing since July 12, 1982 from Charlottesville, VA

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2401dfva.html

http://www.c-ville.com/law-enforcem...cted-killer-glenn-barkers-death/#.VOiXrS6Feio

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-Sybil-Worsky-12-Charlottesville-12-July-1982


Diana Lynn Knack, 22, abducted from Prince Georges County, MD 24 Dec 1977 Body found in Great Falls, VA months later.


Nancy Lynn Jason,18, Missing from Chevy Chase, MD 20 July 1977

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3142dfmd.html


Eileen Kelly, 18, Unsolved Murder December 1974, Washington DC

LINK:
http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/frames.asp?d...pdf&group=1533

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...ington_DC.html
 
From a 2012 Washington Post article:

Remains of Cynthia Gastelle of Takoma Park identified 32 years after her disappearance
By Justin Jouvenal June 13, 2012

Cynthia Joan Gastelle left her Takoma Park home on the morning of April 3, 1980, her family said, headed for job interviews in Silver Spring. The diminutive 18-year-old made it to one appointment, at a delicatessen, and then disappeared.

[...]

On Wednesday, authorities announced that DNA from skeletal remains found in 1982 — in what was then a remote section of Prince William County — was Cynthia’s.

[...]

“We had so hoped that she would come back to us,” said Peter Gastelle, whose voice cracked as he spoke. “Our hope is now gone, and our hearts are broken again.”

[...]

Prince William police said the break in the case came after DNA samples were collected from the Gastelle family in 2011 to see whether the material matched DNA from remains found in another jurisdiction.

[...]

A hiker stumbled upon the remains in a wooded area in the 1100 block of Mountain Road, near Haymarket, in February 1982. The skeleton showed injuries consistent with a stabbing, police said. A cream-colored sweater and dark corduroy pants were found with the remains, police said. Cynthia stood 5-foot-1 and weighed about 90 pounds.

Detectives said they want to speak with Cynthia Gastelle’s former boyfriend, a man who was called Mike or Michael and who was a part-time student in his late teens or early 20s at the time of her disappearance. Police said they are unsure of his full name, but they showed a photo of him in which he has long, curly hair, lambchop sideburns, a goatee and mustache. They emphasized that he is not a suspect in the case.
 
Cynthia's brother was interviewed for this July 2015 Washington Times article about victims who remain unidentified.

Police keep looking for answers to unidentified remains
By MICHAEL SMITH - Associated Press - Sunday, July 19, 2015

[...]

“The not knowing is always the worst thing,” Peter Gastelle said. “As the years went by, you start to think that something terrible did happen, but you don’t want to let that genie out of the bottle.”

Cynthia’s skeleton showed injuries consistent with a stabbing, police said at the time. No arrest had been made. Now that the Gastelles know Cynthia is gone, their focus has turned to finding her killer.

“We were kind of happy living in a dream world,” Gastelle said of thinking Cynthia was alive and well. “Now we live with a brutal reality with a far dimmer hope that the perpetrator gets caught.”

Gastelle said his advice to families with missing loved ones would be to exhaust every effort. “My message to my peers in this awful club that we belong to is to not give up hope,” he said. “There are tools out there (you can use). Retrace the steps of your loved ones. Be a detective yourself.”
 
From February 2015 mentions the possibility of a link to the Lyon sisters -- "no definitive answers", per Det. Brian Coady, Prince William County PD.

[video=youtube;Rs-p_nma1GA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs-p_nma1GA[/video]
 
Another article from 2012

Remains of missing Maryland teen identified after 32 years
Wednesday Jun 13, 2012 2:05 PM


[...]

Prior to his sister's disappearance, Peter Gastelle says, Cynthia Gastelle had been going to job interviews in Takoma Park. She had a GED and a cosmetology certificate, but had decided she didn't want to work in that field.
On the day she disappeared, one deli had called with a job offer.

But that night she didn't come home.

Now police are investigating the case as a homicide. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS.

Police also would like to speak to the man in the picture below, who was in Takoma Park when Gastelle disappeared. Police said he is not a person of interest in the case.

6nVvYFJ.jpg
 
Another article from 2012

Remains of missing Maryland teen identified after 32 years
Wednesday Jun 13, 2012 2:05 PM


[...]

Prior to his sister's disappearance, Peter Gastelle says, Cynthia Gastelle had been going to job interviews in Takoma Park.
On the day she disappeared, one deli had called with a job offer.

But that night she didn't come home.


6nVvYFJ.jpg

Supposedly Cynthia was going to two interviews that day with two different delis. It's probably just a coincidence that Patricia Welch worked at a deli in Silver Spring.
 
Whatever happened to 18-year old Cynthia Joan Gastelle

https://www.northernvirginiamag.com/cold-cases/

1214coldcases_cynthia.jpg

On February 12, 1982, Prince William police found skeletal remains on Bull Run Mountain off of Mountain Road in the Haymarket area. Investigators didn’t know who she was, where she came from or how she got to where she was found. “They had a possibility of how she died but it wasn’t a concrete sort of thing at the time, where it was enough to know it was murder,” Coady says.

Investigators collected the Gastelle family’s DNA when there was another skeleton found in Richmond, thinking maybe that was their daughter. It wasn’t.

But in May 2012, the DNA collected from the Gastelle family matched the skeletal remains of the Prince William County’s 30-year-old unsolved case. “That was a good day for us,” Coady says. “Unfortunately, you never want to tell the family bad news, especially when they had hopes that [their daughter] was still alive.”

There is no evidence of the perpetrator in that case, though they do have a picture of a former boyfriend who they consider a person of interest.
 
This case involves what would appear to be an abduction, murder, and transportation of the victim across state lines - from Maryland to Virginia.

I wonder if this case might be related to some other similar abuction/murders of young girls which occurred in and arround the Virginia, DC, Maryland area around that same time frame. Here are a few:

Kimberly Christine Mileo, 21, Missing June 1983 from Croom, Maryland

Katherine O'Neil Anderson , 24, Missing 20 April 1979 from Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

LINK:
The Doe Network: Case File 930DFMD


Gina Renee Hall, 18, Missing since June 28, 1980 from Radford, VA

LINK:
The Doe Network: Case File 2147DFVA


Zita Cecilia Gutierrez, 24, Missing since August 22, 1980 from Bethesda, MD

LINK:
The Doe Network: Case File 820DFMD


Virginia Alice Welch, 22, Missing since July 12, 1982 from Roanoke, VA

LINK:
1502DFVA - Virginia Alice Welch

VA - VA - Virginia Welch, 22, Roanoke, 12 July 1982


Catherine Worsky, 12, Missing since July 12, 1982 from Charlottesville, VA

LINK:
2401DFVA - Katherine Sybil Worsky

Law enforcement, Worsky family react to convicted killer Glenn Barker’s death

VA - VA - Catherine Sybil Worsky, 12, Charlottesville, 12 July 1982


Diana Lynn Knack, 22, abducted from Prince Georges County, MD 24 Dec 1977 Body found in Great Falls, VA months later.


Nancy Lynn Jason,18, Missing from Chevy Chase, MD 20 July 1977

LINK:
The Doe Network: Nancy Lynn Jason - 3142DFMD


Eileen Kelly, 18, Unsolved Murder December 1974, Washington DC

LINK:
http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/frames.asp?d...pdf&group=1533

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...ington_DC.html



MURDERER SAYS HE'S REHABILITATED, BUT HE CAN'T ESCAPE

Gary Hyer murdered Diana Knack and was found guilty the year after. Sent to Prison at Jessup.
 
I read this article and wonder what is wrong with this picture? Someone who should have been hanged is whining and crying about how hard it is for him to be in prison after he has "changed".

What is the rest of the story? Did he eventually get out or stay where he belonged?

I've lost track of him since '91. I assume he is still locked up or deceased, along with William Joseph Parker who was convicted of murdering 13-year old Elizabeth Archard around the same time as Gary Hyer.
 
Does anyone know of any information in regard to what happened to Cynthia Gastelle's car? Was it ever found? That would be helpful.
 

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