Sandra June Horwath

Horwath, circa 1973; Gary Taylor

  • Missing Since 10/01/1973
  • Missing From Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Age 33 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'6, 135 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A house dress or blue tank top and pullover shirt, a white blazer, blue stretch pants, and sandals with a beige strap and wooden soles. Carrying a purse.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Horwath's nickname is Sandy. Her ears are pierced. At the time of her disappearance, her hair was below her shoulders.

Details of Disappearance

Horwath was last seen in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 1, 1973. She put her three children to bed at 10:00 p.m. When the children woke up the next day between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m., Horwath was gone, and she did not show up for work at the University of Michigan hospital that day.

The flowerbeds outside the residence had been trampled. Horwath's vehicle and watch were left behind at home, but her purse was missing and has never been found.

Horwath was an acquaintance of Gary Addison Taylor. He had a history of violent attacks on women going back to his teenage years in the 1940s and 1950s, and had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years due to his behavior. A photo of Taylor is posted with this case summary.

Around the same time Horwath disappeared, Taylor stopped going to to his outpatient appointments at Ypsilanti State Hospital Center for Forensic Psychiatry and left Michigan. He was apprehended in Texas in 1975 and confessed to the murders of four women in three different states: Michigan, Texas and Washington.

Taylor is currently serving a life sentence in Washington. Authorities investigated his possible involvement in Horwath's disappearance and other cases, but were never able to conclusively link him to any other murders. It's not clear whether he is still a suspect in Horwath's disappearance, but authorities believe Horwath was taken against her will.

Investigating Agency

  • Ann Arbor Police Department 734-794-6920

Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated July 18, 2022; casefile added.