Jan. 16 will mark 40 years since a Lee County teenager went missing after a trip to the Edison Mall with her family.
Mary Opitz, 17, was last seen on Jan. 16, 1981, heading towards the mall parking lot. She was with her mother and brother and told them she was tired and was going to wait in the car for them. An hour later, her family returned to find Mary’s pretzels and packages left on top of the car’s trunk, but no Mary.
The teenager was initially believed to be a runaway, as there was no evidence of a crime in her case. Her family, however, never thought that to be the case.