Tracy Ann Byrd

• Missing Since 03/07/1983
• Missing From Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 07/07/1968 (57)
• Age 14 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'4, 70 - 105 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A shirt and jeans.
• Medical Conditions Tracy may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance, but this has not been confirmed.
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Tracy's ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance

Tracy's mother's former boyfriend, Paul W. Greenwald, dropped her off at Bensalem High School in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania on the morning of March 7, 1983. She was a ninth-grader at the time. She 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. She 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. She was only gone for one night, however. Prior to her disappearance, Tracy told a friend she might be pregnant and her boyfriend was not the father of the baby. 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.

Tracy's mother, Jean Louise Byrd, had a troubled relationship with Greenwald. Once, in 1980, Greenwald kidnapped her at knifepoint, dragged her down three flights of steps to his  car, and led police on a 12-mile chase before crashing into a tree. He was convicted of burglary and abduction, but Jean testified in his defense, and he was given probation, after which Jean began seeing him again. They later broke up a second time, and according to Tracy's brother, Greenwald began stalking Jean.

Jean disappeared seven months after Tracy was last seen. 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. In November 1984, Greenwald was charged with first-degree murder in Jean's death. He admitted to the killing and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Greenwald took his own life in his prison cell before he was sentenced in March 1986. He overdosed on some medication. He was never connected with Tracy's disappearance, and it is not known if he was involved. Photos of Greenwald and Jean are posted with this case summary.

The runaway theory is now considered an unlikely explanation for Tracy's disappearance; she was close to her mother and her loved ones believe she 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 he was involved. Police have another suspect, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania man, but he has not been publicly named. Tracy's case remains unsolved. Foul play is suspected.