A recent episode of the true crime podcast APB Cold Case, entitled “Family Secrets: Where is Tracy Byrd?,” explored details of the teen who went missing in 1983.
It was pouring rain when Tracy Byrd, 14, was dropped off at her Bensalem high school on March 7 by her mother’s boyfriend. Tracy’s best friend never saw her on campus that day and she never came home.
Authorities learned that Tracy had been suspended from school prior to her disappearance, apparently hiding that fact from her mom. Her mother Jean Byrd reported her disappearance to police and appealed publicly for her daughter to “just come home.” Months passed with no sign of her. Then suddenly, Jean went missing too.
In October of that same year, a gruesome discovery was made at a state forest in Delaware: a shallow grave with a decomposing body that was later identified as Jean, her head bound with duct tape. Delaware police charged the mother’s boyfriend Paul Greenwald with her murder. Police also questioned him about Tracy’s disappearance, but he claimed to have no knowledge. While awaiting sentencing, Greenwald committed suicide in jail.
In “Family Secrets: Where is Tracy Byrd?,” many topics are explored, including a history of domestic violence and stalking, rumors of a teen pregnancy and questions about who was involved with Tracy’s strange disappearance. Could it be Greenwald, or someone else? Could it be someone connected with the pregnancy rumor? Someone who wanted to silence her? A detective details the steps of the original investigators on the case, and his own role in pursuing a number of leads which resulted in the identification of two Jane Doe bodies in unrelated cases.
