Name: Jacqueline G. Simpson
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: February 28, 1982
Location Last Seen: Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
Date of Birth: Circa 1938
Age: 44 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Hair Color: Strawberry blonde hair
Eye Color: Unknown
Nickname/Alias: Jackie
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
On February 28, 1982 Jackie Simpson didn't return to her daughter's apartment after tending bar at the former Magic Lamp Bar and Grill in Vandergrift. She was last seen just after midnight with Gary R. Kunish, the bar's owner with whom she had an on-again, off-again relationship.
Prior to her disappearance, the mother of seven had ended an on-again, off-again relationship with Kunish just before Christmas 1981. She had since begun to date a man from Vandergrift.
Later that morning, Simpson was reported missing when she failed to return home. Spots of blood was found in the bar.
Jacqueline Simpson has never been found despite intensive police searches. Scuba divers searched two Westmoreland County lakes and helicopters made sweeps over the Alle-Kiski Valley. Other areas that were searched include the Braeburn area of Lower Burrell, areas of water in Allegheny Township, the wooded area by the Bonfire Restaurant on Route 56, a cave behind the former Woodland Drive-In in Parks, the basement of the Magic Lamp, and the former Varos Landfill in Buffalo Township.
Gary Kunish was convicted for murdering Simpson in 1982. Prosecutors won the case despite having no murder weapon, no eyewitness, no confession and no body.
Agency Name: Pennsylvania State Police
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: N/A
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: N/A
Valley News Dispatch
Added: 9-28-2007; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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