Tracy Ann Byrd .jpg

Fourteen-year-old Tracy was last seen on March 7, 1983 in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania when her mother's live-in boyfriend, Paul W. Greenwald, dropped her off at Bensalem High School in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania that morning of March 7, 1983.

Tracy was suspended from school and wasn't allowed to attend classes again until her mother met with the principal, but she had kept this a secret from her family. After she was dropped off, Tracy tried to get her friends to skip school with her, but they would not. She disappeared afterwards and has never been heard from again.

Tracy was initially considered to be a runaway. There were several possible sightings of her in the local area after she vanished, but none of them were substantiated and police believe they may have been of a girl who only resembled her.

Tracy had run away from home on one previous occasion after an argument with her mother, but she was only gone for one night.

Prior to her disappearance, Tracy told a friend that she might be pregnant, but authorities don't know if she was in fact pregnant or who the father of the baby could be, although Tracy's friend stated she had dated two boys.

Seven months after Tracy vanished, her mother, Jean Louise Byrd, disappeared and her body was located on October 18, 1983 in Blackbird State Forest in New Castle County, Delaware; she had been strangled. Jean had last been seen 11 days prior in her son's apartment complex in Bensalem Township.

Jean had stopped seeing Greenwald before her disappearance. They had had a troubled relationship and in 1980, Greenwald kidnapped her at knifepoint.

In November of 1984, Greenwald was charged with first-degree murder in Jean's death. He admitted to the killing and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. However, he was never connected with Tracy's disappearance and it is not known if he was involved.

In March of 1986, Greenwald committed suicide in his prison cell before he was sentenced by overdosing on some medication.

The runaway theory is now considered an unlikely explanation for Tracy's disappearance; she was close to her mother and her loved ones believe that Tracy would have returned home for Jean's funeral if she had been able to.

Greenwald was long considered a suspect in Tracy's disappearance, but investigators no longer believe that he was involved. Police have another suspect, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania man, but he has not been publicly named.

As of 2018, Tracy's case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected. She was a ninth-grader at the time of her disappearance.

Description[edit | edit source]

Tracy is described as a Caucasian female with strawberry-blonde hair, blue eyes, is between 5'0 and 5'4 and weighs between 70 to 105 pounds. She has pierced ears.

She was last seen wearing a shirt & jeans. Tracy may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance, but this has not been confirmed.
