In August of 1981, Cynthia Anderson was preparing herself to move on to bigger things. The very devout Christian Fundamentalist was about to start attending Bible college with her boyfriend. She was described by her father as a “quiet girl who didn’t make much waves but still had many friends”. Many would say that Anderson would catch the attention of a passerby due to her attractive looks. Anderson worked as a legal secretary in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio.
Anderson was preparing to quit her job at the law firm to start attending Bible college, but events at the office caused her to get out of there even faster. Six months prior, the words “I love you Cindy, by GW” was spray painted on a window across the street from the law office, facing Anderson’s desk. According to one of her friends, Anderson was the only Cindy that worked on that side of the strip mall where the law office was located.
She had no idea who GW could have been and the message seemed to be intentionally placed for her to see it. The message wasn’t cleaned off for six months after it was initially written. The message was written again only a few weeks later, even bigger this time. Throughout the summer, she began to be harassed by unknown callers. Larry Mullins, a client of the law firm, recalled a time when Anderson answered the phone and quickly hung up, just for the phone to ring again. Mullins stated that her face betrayed the fact that she was sincerely scared.
She was starting to have nightmares where she would be kidnapped and murdered by a stranger, making her all the more paranoid. Cynthia’s bosses made arrangements where she would keep the doors locked even during business hours and there was a button on her desk that would alert the other stores in the strip mall that she was in trouble. These attempts to keep Anderson safe unfortunately weren’t enough.
On August 14, 1981, Anderson made her way to the law office at around 8:30 AM. She was seen as late as 9:45 AM. James Rabbitt, her employer, made his way to the office at around 12:00 PM and stated that all the lights were on along with the radio, but there was so sign of Anderson. The sent of acetone or nail polish was present in the office. She was known to leave a note and put the phones on holf if she was to step out, yet no note was found and the lines were open. There were no signs of a struggle and according to some reports, the front door was still locked from the inside.
Her car was still in the parking lot but her purse and keys were missing. Most eriely, a romance novel that Anderson was reading was open on her desk to a page where the protagonist gets kidnapped at knifepoint. Police were unable to find any solid clues to whatever happened to Cynthia Anderson that fateful day.
Many have speculated what happened to Anderson. The optimistic think that she may have run away to start a new life as she was staring down a life of being a devout Fundamentalist. Those more cynical believe she was kidnapped in the broad daylight and eventually murdered. Both sides have equal arguments as there was no struggle apparent at the scene but the phone calls and spray-painted messages suggest there was more malice involved than one hopes. As for what really happened to Cynthia Anderson, the world might just never know.