Name: Zita Cecilia Gutierrez
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: August 22, 1980
Location Last Seen: Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland.
Date of Birth: October 23, 1956
Age: 24 years old
Race: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0
Weight: 110 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Cecilia
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Available
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Gold ring with a green stone in marquise setting and a silver colored watch with a silver metal band.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Gutierrez was last seen leaving the Kenwood Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland on August 22, 1980.
The Montgomery College student from Rockville was working two summer jobs to pay for her education. She had a position at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and had been working for about a week as a cocktail waitress at Kenwood Country Club, also in Bethesda. After finishing her shift at Kenwood one night, Gutierrez left to meet her fiance and some friends at a local nightclub.
Gutierrez has not been seen since.
On August 23, 1980, the day after her disappearance, her 1971 "Dodge Challenger" was found in a parking lot adjacent to a bus stop near NIH.
Gutierrez was supposed to pick up a friend near NIH by 21:30 on August 22, 1980. Although a coworker saw her car leaving the country club shortly after she checked out of work at 21:25, he could not confirm whether she was in it. Authorities believe Zita thought that she would meet that friend at the bus stop at NIH, but her friend was waiting at a different bus stop farther from the facility.
Her fiance, an Iranian student visiting from Pennsylvania, thought Gutierrez’s car may have broken down. He picked up Gutierrez’s friend and they tried to find Gutierrez, but after an unsuccessful search they called police at 2.00 .
Police did not find any evidence of a struggle in the vicinity where her car was found.
Gutierrez is a native of Ecuador who had come to the United States five years previously.
Agency Name: Montgomery County Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Major Crimes
Agency Phone Number: 240-773-5070
Agency E-Mail: ColdCase@montgomerycountymd.gov
Agency Case Number: R039422
NCIC Case Number: M072984567
NamUs MP #1866
Washington Post
Gazette.Net 8/31/05
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
Return Home