Cynthia Johnson

Age: 16

Ethnicity: White

Gender: F

Date of Death: 10/30/1977

Type of Crime: Homicide

Summary of Case:

Independence, OH: Cindy was 16 years old and described by Marilyn Johnson, her sister, as a kind, free spirit who loved kids. “A lot of people loved her; she really had no enemies,” said Johnson. Cindy was 16 when she left her home in Garfield Heights with friends to attend a rally at Edgewater Park in nearby Lakewood around 11:00 am on October 30, 1977. Cindy’s friends reported being there until 4:00 pm, when Cindy and her best friend Terri returned to Cindy’s Garfield Heights home. They were there for roughly two hours before Cindy left again.

Cindy told her friend she would meet a man at a parking lot at Garfield & Turney Rd later that night. Before they left, she told her mother she would be home by 11 pm. Between 7 and 9 pm, Terri walked Cindy to the parking lot at Turney Rd and Garfield Blvd across the street from Garfield Park. Cindy’s friends mentioned that she had been with this man, a 39-year-old friend of Cindy’s stepfather, a couple of times before. Terri stated that she turned and returned home before they got to the meeting place. Cindy went on alone.

The following day, October 31, around 8:30am, Cindy’s remains were found by an employee of the Titan Fastener Engineering Co. on top of an industrial rubbish container outside the company’s warehouse on 7395 Riverview Road.

With the family friend being cleared and no other leads, the case had gone cold. It was years before Cindy’s family asked the Independence police to re-open the case after people who knew Cindy began contacting them. The police have re-opened the investigation, but so far, they are no closer to finding Cindy’s killer.

Thanks to the generous support of the Season of Justice community, a billboard featuring Cindy was installed on April 15 in the hopes of eliciting more information about the case and providing her family the answers they deserve. The billboard, located on Warner Rd near Bacci Park, will remain up through September.

What may seem like a small piece of information could be huge in developing a lead to help solve Cindy’s cold case and identify her killer.

If you have any information about the person(s) responsible for her murder, please call Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga Co at (216) 252-7463 or submit an anonymous tip using the button below.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the P3 Tips Mobile App on any smartphone or tablet, available in Google Play or the Apple App Store.

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