Zita Cecilia Gutierrez

Case Type: Endangered
DOB: 10/23/1955
Missing Date: 08/23/1980
Age Now: 69
Missing City: Bethesda
Missing State: MD
Case Number: R039422

Gender: Female
Race: Hispanic
Complexion: Light
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 110lbs
Hair Color: Brown
Hair Length: Medium
Eye Color: Brown
Glasses or Contacts: None

Location Last Seen: Gutierrez was last seen leaving the Kenwood Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Circumstances of Disappearance: The Montgomery College student from Rockville, who was known to most as Cecilia, was working two summer jobs to pay for her education and make ends meet. 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 fiancé 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, said Detective Jayne Bowers of the Montgomery County Police Department, who has been working on the case since 2003. Gutierrez was supposed to pick up a friend near NIH by 9:30 p.m. August 22, 1980. Although a co-worker saw her car leaving the country club shortly after she checked out of work at 9:25 p.m., he could not confirm whether she was in it, Bowers said. Authorities believe Zita thought that she would meet that friend at the bus stop that is right at NIH, but her friend was waiting at a different bus stop farther from the facility. Her fiancé, 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 a.m. Police did not find any hair or nails or other 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.

Last Seen Wearing: Unknown

Identifying Marks or Characteristics: Unknown