A young woman goes missing and her remains are found five months later In the late summer of 1982, the community of Orkney in Floyd County, Kentucky, was unsettled by the disappearance of one of their own. Zelma Anderson, a 53-year-old hairdresser, was last seen in the mid-afternoon of August 2nd. When days turned into more than a week with no word from her, her sister, Mary Anderson, officially reported her missing to the state police on August 11th. Relatives had already been tirelessly searching for her, but their efforts had been in vain.
A larger search ensued, combing the areas along Left Beaver Creek, its railroad tracks, highways, and hollows, yet no trace of Zelma was found.
The search came to a grim end nearly five months later, on December 23, 1982. A group of teenagers who were gathering coal in an old strip mine near McDowell made a shocking discovery: the skeletal remains of a human body. The remains were later identified as those of Zelma Anderson. The investigation into her death revealed a brutal and violent end to her life.
The official cause of death was determined to be a homicide. The evidence suggested that Zelma had been beaten to death, and there were also signs of sexual assault. Despite the ruling of her death as a murder, the case has remained unsolved for decades. To this day, there have been no arrests made in connection with her death, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The investigation is ongoing, leaving her family and the community with unanswered questions about who was responsible for the tragic death of Zelma Anderson.
