Teen girl found strangled to death in 1970. Decades later, Maryland cops have suspect

A teenage girl was found strangled to death in the woods of Maryland in 1970. Now, over 50 years later, police have identified a suspect in her killing.

Pamela Lynn Conyers was 16 years old when she left home to go shopping on Oct. 16, 1970, and never returned, according to a March 10 statement from the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

When she didn’t come home, she was reported missing to police, and several days later, her body was found near her car in a wooded area off the road.

The chief medical examiner for the state determined she had been strangled.

However, the person responsible for Conyers’ death eluded police for decades, and her case became “a source of mystery,” according to the Capital Gazette.

“At one time, investigators wondered whether Conyers’ death was tied to the 1969 murder of Catholic high school teacher Sister Cathy Cesnik, which was featured in the Netflix docuseries ‘The Keepers,’” the outlet reported.

Now, thanks to “advancements in technology,” in addition to the assistance of federal and state agencies, a suspect has finally been identified.

Police named Forrest Clyde Williams III, a former resident of Virginia, as the suspect. His mugshots were taken several months after Conyers’ death after he had been arrested on unrelated charges, police said.

Williams, born in 1948, is now dead, but he would have been charged with murder if he were still alive, police said.

Williams died in 2018, according to an online obituary.

The investigation remains ongoing, police said. Investigators did not say what evidence tied Williams’ to Conyers’ death.

“I still mourn her death,” a former high school classmate of Conyers’, told CBS Baltimore. “I got to be old; she didn’t. She’s forever 16.”

Anne Arundel County is located south of Baltimore and encompasses Annapolis.

This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Teen girl found strangled to death in 1970. Decades later, Maryland cops have suspect."