Hernandez, circa 1976

Cynthia May Hernandez
Missing since August 26, 1976 from Glendora, Los Angeles County, California.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: June 7, 1956
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4; 125 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: White/Hispanic female. Brown hair; brown eyes. Long fingernails with the bottom painted hot pink and the top painted maroon.
• Clothing: She was last seen wearing gray knit pants, a black turtleneck sweater, a rust-colored sweater open in front and white platform shoes with cork soles. On her left ring finger she had a white metal "love knot" ring. On her right hand, she wore a Charter Oak High School class ring for the class of 1976. "CMH" is engraved inside the class ring. She also carried a brown purse of patchwork vinyl squares laced together on the edges.
• Dentals: Not available
• AKA: Cindy

Circumstances of Disappearance
Hernandez was last seen in Glendora, California on August 26, 1976. The Charter Oak High School graduate left the house to catch a nighttime showing of "The Omen" at the Fox Twin Theaters in Covina. Her boyfriend was sick with the flu and a friend she called had either already seen the horror movie or didn't want to go. Early the next morning, her family found the Chevrolet station wagon she used parked behind the Azusa Avenue theater. It was unlocked and backed into a parking spot. Hernandez was never seen again.
Police deemed the disappearance suspicious from the beginning since the car was left behind and Hernandez had no reason to run away. In the three decades since, detectives have looked at the case to see if Hernandez became a victim of a killer preying on women in the Southland. But the answers to her fate have eluded investigators. She had never gone missing before and probably spent three nights of her life away from home. Hernandez, who played volleyball, football and baseball, was strong and would resist being dragged off. Cindy Hernandez was the middle child in a family of three children. Like her siblings, she was a good singer. She sang alto in the school a cappella choir. She was also athletic, liked to dance and was active in church. Hernandez was a homebody who loved to cook. In eighth grade, she could make a baked Alaska and her own barbecue sauce. Her mother described her as very honest and naive.
Glendora police recovered latent prints from the station wagon in 1976. A latent print could be a palm print or fingerprints. No one has used Hernandez's driver license, name or Social Security number since she vanished.
In 1993, sheriff's investigators reviewing cases of women killed in the eastern part of Los Angeles County looked at the Hernandez case. Detectives were trying to see if the same suspect was involved in the killings of a girl and three young women in the San Gabriel Valley in the late `70s. The suspect hasn't been arrested or charged with the local killings or with Hernandez's disappearance.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Glendora Police Department
626-914-8250

Agency Case Number: 76-3202

NCIC Number: M-026680427
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
SVG Tribune