Mary Ann Higginbotham was 22 when she disappeared from her Clayton, Indiana home. She was last seen on June 6, 1978, with her 25-year-old boyfriend, Timothy Willoughby. For a year the couple were missing; law enforcement initially suggested they had left town.

On June 5, 1979 a teenager near White Lick Creek in Mooresville opened a sealed 55-gallon drum and found Mary Ann’s remains. An autopsy showed she had been shot in the back of the head. Investigators believe she was killed in her home and her body placed in the drum. Timothy Willoughby’s body has never been recovered and authorities believe he was killed the same day.

The investigation later turned toward a car theft ring linked to Willoughby and, in 1983, an informant named two men, saying they had confessed and forced her to clean bloody clothes. Those suspects were charged, but the case fell apart — charges were dismissed for lack of evidence and procedural issues. No one has been convicted in Mary Ann’s murder or in Willoughby’s disappearance.

If anyone knew Mary Ann, Timothy, or their movements in June 1978, please share what might help finally resolve these deaths.