Skeletal Remains Found in 1988 Belonged to Teen Girl Who Vanished 50 Years Ago, Investigators Say

Nancy Carol Fitzgerald was 16 when she disappeared April 2, 1972. The circumstances of her death remain a mystery

Accident or crime scene cordon tape, police line do not cross. It is nighttime, emergency lights of police cars flashing blue, red and white in the background
Photo: Getty

New Jersey officials have confirmed that a set of skeletal remains found in 1988 belong to a teenage girl who went missing 50 years ago.

Nancy Carol Fitzgerald was 16 when she vanished the day after Easter on April 2, 1972, according to a press release from the Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago.

Her remains were discovered 16 years later on Dec. 10, 1988, during a community clean-up near the Henry Hudson Bike Trail in Atlantic Highlands. For more than three decades, it was unclear whose remains were found.

Through interviews and DNA analysis, officials determined that they belonged to Fitzgerald, the MCPO said on Monday.

"Today's announcement marks the culmination of decades of hard work by a network of individuals whose collective determination and ingenuity proved inexhaustible," Santiago said in a statement.

Fitzgerald lived with her family on Mohr Avenue in Bloomfield when she vanished in 1972, according to the prosecutor's office. The circumstances surrounding Fitzgerald's disappearance and death remain unclear.

"To that end, we are urging anyone who may have any information about this matter whatsoever to come forward and tell us what they know," Santiago said.

"Ms. Fitzgerald's peers would all likely be in their 60s today," he added, "so we firmly believe that it is not too late to determine what happened to her and why – and, if possible, to hold any living person who may be responsible accountable for it."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Like authorities, Fitzgerald's sister Kathleen Unterberger still has questions about her sister's death, according to the Asbury Park Press. She was 15 when her sibling went missing, and is now one of only two living relatives of Fitzgerald.

Unterberger, who lives in Pennsylvania, said she helped authorities identify her sister's remains once the MCPO located her through a distant female relative in Georgia.

The prosecutor's office said it was able to make the connection after contacting Bode Technology, a Virginia-based DNA analysis firm, in 2020 "to pursue a forensic genealogical review of the case" after previous profiles were unsuccessful.

Unterberger traveled cross-country in search of her sister after she disappeared, the Asbury Park Press reported. She told the paper that the identification of her sister's remains has left her with a jumble of emotions.

"I never really stopped thinking about her," Unterberger explained, "but when I stopped feeling about it, life got easier, I guess. But now I have that feeling again. I just want to hold her."

Anyone with information about Fitzgerald is asked to call MCPO Detective Raynor at 800-533-7443 or Atlantic Highlands Police Department Lt. Michael Zudonyi at 732-291-1212.

Related Articles