Dana Bradley was hitchhiking home in St. John’s, Newfoundland, to celebrate her mother’s birthday when she disappeared. Bradley, 14, had spent the afternoon at the home of a friend from school when she ventured out around 5 p.m. on Dec. 14, 1981, to find a ride back to her house. When she did not arrive that evening, her family notified the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and declared her missing. A witness said they saw Bradley get into either a Dodge Dart or Plymouth Valiant with a male driver.
The girl’s body was found four days later in the woods off Maddox Cove Road, south of St. John’s. Her skull was fractured and she had been sexually assaulted. Bradley’s body had been laid out with her school books underneath her arm. She had been killed by blunt-force trauma to her head.
Despite an exhaustive investigation, involving hundreds of interviews, thousands of tips and the examination of over 800 different cars, authorities were unable to find out who killed Bradley. The case remains unsolved.