A woman's decomposed body is found under a mattress behind a bar In the spring of 1979, a sense of unease settled over the life of 20-year-old Sherry Harbeke, a Caucasian female living in Reno, Nevada. Working at the MGM Grand Hotel, she had confided in a coworker about receiving a threatening phone call and the unsettling presence of a peeping tom at her residence in the Skyline Mobile Park. The fear was palpable enough that she sought refuge at her brother's home for a night.
On April 9, 1979, after leaving her brother's, she was reportedly seen walking near her home. It was the last time she was seen alive. Her family grew worried when she failed to show up for a rock concert she had been looking forward to, prompting them to report her missing. Her car was later found abandoned on North Virginia Street, not far from her home.
For nearly two months, Sherry's whereabouts remained a mystery. The search came to a grim end on June 5, 1979, when her severely decomposed body was discovered hidden under a mattress behind the Black Springs Bar on North Virginia Street. The location of her body was situated between where her car was found and her mobile home park. An autopsy would later reveal that she had been killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
The investigation into Sherry Harbeke's murder has stretched on for decades, becoming one of Reno's most haunting cold cases. To this day, no arrests have ever been made, and no suspects have been officially named in her death. The case remains open with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, a silent testament to a life cut short.
In the years following her death, speculation has arisen about possible connections to other local cases, including the disappearance of another young woman, Linda Taylor, just a month before Harbeke went missing. A person of interest in Taylor's case, a man described as a bearded locksmith, was questioned but never charged. While some have wondered if there could be a link between the two cases, no definitive evidence has ever emerged to connect this individual to Sherry Harbeke's murder, leaving her family and the community still searching for answers.
