PA PA - Tracy Byrd, 14, Bensalem, 7 March 1983

March 7th 2008 will mark the 25 year anniversary of Tracy's disappearance.

25 years ago...


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Tracy Ann Byrd
Missing since March 7, 1983 from Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: July 7, 1968
Age at Time of Disappearance: 14 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'0, 95 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Strawberry blonde hair; blue eyes.
Marks, Scars: Pierced ears.
Clothing: A shirt and jeans
Dentals: Partial dental records are available
DNA: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Byrd was last seen by Paul Greenwald who was dropping her off at school in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1983. Byrd never attended classes that day; she has not been seen since.

Her mother, Jean Louise Byrd disappeared seven months after Byrd's disappearance and was later located as a homicide victim. Byrd's body was found October 18, 1983, in Blackbird State Forest in New Castle County, Delaware.

Paul Greenwald, Jean's ex-boyfriend was arrested in 1984 in the strangulation death of Jean Byrd. No charges were filed against Greenwald in connection with Tracy Byrd. Greenwald was found dead in his cell in 1986, just a day before he was due to be sentenced.

Investigators
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Byrd, please contact:

Bensalem Police Department
Criminal Investigation Division
Detective Chris McMullin
215-639-3700
All information can be submitted on an anonymous basis.

Agency Case Number: 83-05587
NCMEC #: NCMC600609
NCIC Number: M-363022107
Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
The Doe Network: Case File 9DFPA

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/9dfpa.html

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-03082008-1500202.html

DNA evidence could end search for teen

By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times

Fourteen-year-old Tracy Byrd was last seen 25 years ago this morning, walking through the rain toward the doors of Bensalem High School.

Her case is far from cold.

A Bensalem detective believes he knows what happened to the petite ninth-grader — and he's dismissing the old theories.

For years, people thought Tracy's mother's boyfriend killed her. Paul Greenwald was the last person to see Tracy, and he later murdered her mother. He killed himself in prison...

Click to expand...

More at article.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-03082008-1500202.html

DNA evidence could end search for teen

By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times

Fourteen-year-old Tracy Byrd was last seen 25 years ago this morning, walking through the rain toward the doors of Bensalem High School.

Her case is far from cold.

A Bensalem detective believes he knows what happened to the petite ninth-grader — and he's dismissing the old theories.

For years, people thought Tracy's mother's boyfriend killed her. Paul Greenwald was the last person to see Tracy, and he later murdered her mother. He killed himself in prison...

Click to expand...

More at article.

UPDATE: DNA does not match that of Tracy Byrd
Article HERE

New twist in cases of Jane Doe and missing teen

By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times

And so, the two mysteries continue.

A DNA test concluded late last month that a pregnant female's body found in Bensalem in 1988 is not that of Tracy Byrd, a 14-year-old Bensalem girl who disappeared in 1983.

Bensalem Detective Chris McMullin was hoping the genetic analysis would connect the two. Instead, it ruled out just one possible fate for two females.

Yet, the DNA test doesn't have to be the end of either story.

Information regarding Tracy and the Jane Doe, including her recently extracted DNA, will be entered into a new national database for the missing and unidentified. The Justice Department created the central database www.namus.gov last year to help remedy the country's vastly disconnected network for solving such cases.

Click to expand...

More at article...

Article also mentions a Canadian amature sleuth hoping to match the Doe to Audrey Lyn Nerenberg.

$$$$$$$$$Reward for any information leading to the discovery of Tracy Byrd or her remains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPRcpPrasts

Interview with Detective.

so glad they are resuming this case that happened so long ago, i truly hope they find her.

I really hope they shed some light on this case.... Police say it is far from cold.
My prayers are with this family.

any updates as of 2012?

tried to read that article, but the link is dead.

i find it so odd her mother also was missing, and found murdered. they so no connection...still weird

Circumstances of Disappearance

Byrd was last seen by Paul Greenwald who was dropping her off at school in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1983. Byrd never attended classes that day; she has not been seen since.

Her mother, Jean Louise Byrd disappeared seven months after Byrd's disappearance and was later located as a homicide victim. Byrd's body was found October 18, 1983, in Blackbird State Forest in New Castle County, Delaware.

Paul Greenwald, Jean's ex-boyfriend was arrested in 1984 in the strangulation death of Jean Byrd. No charges were filed against Greenwald in connection with Tracy Byrd. Greenwald was found dead in his cell in 1986, just a day before he was due to be sentenced.

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It seems rather obvious, given Greenwald's subsequent murder of Tracy Ann's mother and his own suicide, that he also murdered Tracy Ann.

The story of her being last seen going through the doors of her school came from Greenwald, and was most likely a lie. She was probably already dead by that time.

Her body might be found in Blackbird State Forest in New Castle County, Delaware - near where her mother's body was dumped. Or in another remote place frequented by Greenwald.

HAs that area already been searched at all?

amber1 said:

HAs that area already been searched at all?

Click to expand...

I would hope so, but I do not know for certain. Also, I do not know if Tracy's mother's body was buried, or left in the open.

I know this could be a long shot.. but

http://doenetwork.org/cases/461ufpa.html

She is missing in 83. This doe is found in 88 and said to be dead for 3-5 years?
Maybe the bf had been abusing her and she turned up pregnant so he killed her and dumped her?

You guys are the experts but the timing seems okay and the noses seem similar to me as well as the eye set and the mouth.

She is an excellent PM, but it appears they have already ruled out Tracy Byrd: https://identifyus.org/en/cases/2202

ScarlettScarpetta said:

I know this could be a long shot.. but

http://doenetwork.org/cases/461ufpa.html

She is missing in 83. This doe is found in 88 and said to be dead for 3-5 years?
Maybe the bf had been abusing her and she turned up pregnant so he killed her and dumped her?

You guys are the experts but the timing seems okay and the noses seem similar to me as well as the eye set and the mouth.

Click to expand...

I do remember they ruled out Tracy as being the doe. I believe they had also tested and ruled out Jeanette Rose Tambe at that time. (Jeanette, also from Bensalem, went missing in October 1984 and was found in Buena Vista, NJ in August 1986; however, her remains were not ID'd until May 2012.)

I think it was Greenwald, and maybe he attacked and killed her mother because the mother began questioning him regarding Tracy.