Name: Cindy Lee Smith
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: April 3, 1987
Location Last Seen: Winter Haven, Polk County, Florida
Date of Birth: September 15, 1960
Age: 26 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 102 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue green
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Available
Clothing: Black pants, black and white striped blouse. Gray tennis shoes.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Cindy Smith was last seen on April 3, 1987 leaving work. She was picked up by her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend stated she went to Daytona Beach with an unknown male. Cindy has never been heard from since.
She left behind her parents, sister, brother, and her 7-year-old son. She left behind her job at Kmart , her car, her two dogs and a tax refund she never picked up.
According to Smith's parents, Smith and her son (from Cindy's ex-husband ), were living with the boyfriend in Winter Haven at the time.
Smith told her parents that she was leaving her boyfriend. She asked them whether she and her son could move in with them; they were supposed to meet her at her home that weekend to help her move her things. When Smith never called her parents that weekend they thought she had changed her mind. But on Monday, April 6, Smith's supervisor at Kmart called and asked why Smith hadn't shown up at work.
Her parents called to report her missing as soon as Smith's supervisor called them.
About a month after Smith disappeared the family heard that the boyfriend was selling Smith's things in the front yard of the home they shared.
The father went over to her house with a male relative and they searched the house. They found Smith's mattress, bloodstained, inside the house. They immediately called the Sheriff's Office, and the Sheriff's Office collected the mattress. There were tests done on the mattress, but they were only to determine blood type, because forensic science wasn't as advanced in 1987. The mattress eventually was discarded in the 1990s, with no samples preserved, and the blood tests that were done at the time couldn't be used to determine identity.
Foul play is possible.
Agency Name: Polk County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Detective Ivan Navarro
Agency Phone Number: 863-534-6379
Agency E-Mail: missingperson@polksheriff.org
Agency Case Number: 1987-31876
NCIC Case Number: M-319426446
NamUs Case Number: MP5767
NamUs
Polk County Sheriff's Office
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 7/28/23 - By: hb
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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