Sandra Bush was 21 years old when she was murdered. Her body was found by two hunters in Tarrant County, Texas, four decades ago, and the person responsible for her death has yet to be brought to justice.
In 1980, Bush graduated with honors from O.D. Wyatt High School, and she went on to college to study journalism. She reportedly dropped out after completing one year of college.
Bush landed a job thereafter, working as a receptionist at a medical office.
She also had a boyfriend, but they broke up several months before she vanished.
On the evening of Nov. 17, 1983, Bush was at her home in the 3300 block of Cutter Street in Fort Worth when she received a phone call from an unknown person.
She left her home wearing a pink pantsuit and never returned. That’s when a relative contacted the police department and reported her missing, prompting a search by law enforcement.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bush’s vehicle, a tan 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, was found the day after she disappeared. It was parked outside Eve’s Bar on Refugio Street.
Bush would seldomly go to bars, but whenever she did, it would have been the bar that was miles from where her vehicle was found.
Police officials searched the vehicle, but they didn’t find any fingerprints. It was after they discovered a yellow pillow in the trunk stained with blood that they realized that the car had been wiped clean.
Weeks went by, and there was still no sign of Bush, but her relatives and friends were still hopeful that she was still alive.
One of her friends stated in 1984 that “San was so full of life and laughter. The uncertainty just hurts so bad sometimes that I find myself crying, but it still hasn’t hit me yet.”
On the night of Jan. 2, 1984, Bush was found dead in a field located in the 4800 block of Decatur Road. Two men hunting deer were on a property with high grass when they encountered her decomposed body.
She was partly clothed and had debris on top of her.
Due to the state of decomposition, the medical examiner could not immediately make an identification.
An employee at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office stated that Bush was ultimately identified through a “photographic process of overlaying negatives of photos of Bush and the body.”
The medical examiner later ruled her death a homicide after an autopsy revealed she died after being strangled with a cord.
In 1984, Crimestoppers offered a $1,000 reward for more information in the case, as they believed someone saw Bush with her killer on the day she went missing.
Anyone with information regarding the unsolved murder of Sandra Bush is encouraged to contact the Fort Worth Texas Police Department’s Homicide Unit at (817) 392-4330.