Key facts
- Name: Lynn M. Burdick
- Born: February 1964
- Age at disappearance: 18
- Last seen: April 17, 1982, around 8:10 p.m., working alone at the Barefoot Peddler country store on Route 2 in Florida, Massachusetts
- Location: Barefoot Peddler country store, Route 2, Florida, Berkshire County, Massachusetts
- Description: 5’4″, 115 lbs, brown hair, blue eyes; wore a blue and yellow checkered shirt, dungarees, and white sneakers; wore eyeglasses, had extensive dental work, and wore a McCann Tech class ring with a blue stone; also wearing a high-school jacket; her purse was left behind
- Status: Still missing; active investigation — FBI ViCAP alert #2024-07-01 issued July 2024
- Investigating agency: Berkshire State Police Detective Unit — 1-413-499-1112; MSP Unresolved Case Unit — mspunresolved@pol.state.ma.us; FBI ViCAP — (800) 634-4097
“A customer just came in”
It was Lynn Burdick’s first solo closing shift. She was eighteen, working alone at her cousin’s country store — the Barefoot Peddler, on Route 2 in the tiny town of Florida, Massachusetts, tucked into the Berkshire hills. Around 8:00 p.m. on April 17, 1982, her cousin called to check in.
Mid-sentence, the doorbell chimed. A customer. Lynn said she’d call back after she helped them.
That was the last time anyone heard Lynn Burdick’s voice.
Her mother called at 8:30. No answer. At 8:40, a customer walked in to find the store deserted, the door ajar. About $200 was missing from the register. There was no sign of a struggle. Lynn’s purse was still there. Lynn was not.
The car heading east
Thirty to forty minutes before Lynn vanished, thirteen miles west in Williamstown, there had been an attempted abduction. The vehicle involved sped eastbound on Route 2 — directly toward Florida, directly toward the Barefoot Peddler.
Investigators built a composite sketch of a suspect: a white male, about 5’7″. For decades, that sketch and that eastbound car were the spine of the case. The store’s isolation — a country store on a rural highway at night, a teenage girl alone — had made it a target of opportunity. Someone had been hunting along Route 2 that evening, and Lynn was where the hunt ended.
In 2021, Lynn’s niece Debbie Davine raised money for a billboard to keep the case visible — the Berkshire Eagle covered the family’s fundraising. And in July 2024, the case took a significant step forward: the FBI issued a ViCAP alert (#2024-07-01), releasing age-progressed images of the suspect, who would now be around 70 years old and is believed to have ties to Vermont.
Dateline NBC and Oxygen have both covered the case. The Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit still carries it (agency case #821031006-39).
What was left behind
The details of that store at 8:40 p.m. tell their own story. The door ajar — Lynn would never have left it that way. The register short about $200 — consistent with a robbery staged to look like one, or a real one that escalated. No sign of a struggle — which, in an abduction, often means a weapon was shown and the victim complied.
Her purse, left behind. Her eyeglasses, her McCann Tech class ring with its blue stone, her high-school jacket — the small inventory of an eighteen-year-old’s life, abandoned in a lit store on an empty highway. She had extensive dental work, a detail that matters because dental records are how unidentified remains get named. In forty-four years, no Jane Doe has matched.
The billboard and the ViCAP alert
In 2021, Lynn’s niece Debbie Davine did something old-fashioned: she raised money for a billboard. The Berkshire Eagle covered the fundraising — a family buying highway advertising space to ask if anyone remembered an eighteen-year-old girl from 1982. It’s the kind of thing families do when the system is quiet: they go around it, straight to the public, on the theory that someone driving Route 2 might know something and just needs to see her face.
Then, in July 2024, the case got something rarer than a billboard: the FBI’s attention. ViCAP alert #2024-07-01 went out with age-progressed images of the suspect — the white male, about 5’7″ in 1982, now around 70 years old, believed to have ties to Vermont. Think about what that means. Forty-two years after the fact, federal behavioral analysts looked at this case and decided the suspect was worth hunting — worth rendering as a 70-year-old, worth describing publicly, worth tying to a state.
The ViCAP alert is also a message to the suspect, if he’s alive: we haven’t forgotten, and we know what you look like now. Age-progressed suspect images are released when investigators believe identification is possible — when they think someone out there knows a 70-year-old man with Vermont ties who was near Route 2 in April 1982 and has never been able to explain it.
Dateline NBC and Oxygen both covered the alert. The Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit still carries the file (mspunresolved@pol.state.ma.us). Lynn’s McCann Tech class ring — blue stone — and her high-school jacket are still listed among her effects, still waiting to be found on someone, somewhere, who can’t explain how they got them.
Theories
Abduction by the Route 2 predator
The attempted abduction in Williamstown 30–40 minutes earlier, the eastbound vehicle, the composite sketch, the staged-looking robbery — this is the lead investigators have pursued for decades, and the 2024 ViCAP alert with age-progressed suspect images shows they still believe the suspect is identifiable and possibly alive. Evidence level: Strongest theory; built on the Williamstown attempt and the timeline. No arrest has ever been made.
Robbery gone wrong
The missing $200 suggests robbery as a motive. Evidence level: Consistent with the register, but a robber who also abducts the clerk is a different crime than a robbery — and no trace of Lynn has ever surfaced.
She left voluntarily
Evidence level: No support. Her purse was left behind, she was mid-shift on her first solo close, and she had no reason to walk out of a lit store into a dark highway night.
Have information?
Contact the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit at 1-413-499-1112, the MSP Unresolved Case Unit at mspunresolved@pol.state.ma.us, or FBI ViCAP at (800) 634-4097.
In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- February 1964 — Lynn M. Burdick is born.
- April 17, 1982, ~7:30 p.m. — An attempted abduction occurs in Williamstown, 13 miles west; the vehicle speeds eastbound on Route 2 toward Florida.
- April 17, 1982, ~8:00 p.m. — Lynn, working her first solo closing shift at the Barefoot Peddler country store on Route 2 in Florida, MA, is on the phone with her cousin. The doorbell chimes; she says a customer just came in and she’ll call back. Last contact.
- April 17, 1982, 8:30 p.m. — Her mother calls; no answer.
- April 17, 1982, 8:40 p.m. — A customer finds the store deserted, door ajar; ~$200 missing from the register; no sign of struggle; Lynn’s purse left behind.
- 2021 — Lynn’s niece Debbie Davine funds a billboard (Berkshire Eagle).
- July 2024 — FBI issues ViCAP alert #2024-07-01 with age-progressed suspect images (suspect would be ~70, believed tied to Vermont).
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Lynn Burdick still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Lynn Burdick remains missing. She vanished in April 1982 and has never been found.
Was Lynn Burdick ever found?
No. No trace of Lynn has been found in the forty-four years since she disappeared.
What happened to Lynn Burdick?
She was working alone at the Barefoot Peddler country store on Route 2 in Florida, Massachusetts, on April 17, 1982, when a customer came in around 8:10 p.m. She was never seen again. About $200 was missing from the register. Investigators believe she was abducted, possibly by the driver involved in an attempted abduction in Williamstown 30–40 minutes earlier.
How old would Lynn Burdick be today?
She was born in February 1964, so she would be 62 years old in 2026.
What is the FBI ViCAP alert about Lynn Burdick?
In July 2024, the FBI issued ViCAP alert #2024-07-01, releasing age-progressed images of the suspect — a white male, about 5’7″ at the time, who would now be around 70 and is believed to have ties to Vermont.
What did Lynn Burdick look like?
She was 5’4″, 115 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. She wore eyeglasses, a blue and yellow checkered shirt, dungarees, and white sneakers, plus a McCann Tech class ring with a blue stone and a high-school jacket.
Sources
Official / law enforcement:
– Berkshire State Police Detective Unit — 1-413-499-1112 (Agency case #821031006-39)
– Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit — mspunresolved@pol.state.ma.us
– FBI ViCAP — (800) 634-4097 (ViCAP alert #2024-07-01, July 2024)
News:
– Berkshire Eagle — coverage of niece Debbie Davine’s billboard fundraiser (2021)
– Oxygen — “Age-Progressed Photos Released In 1982 Case Of Lynn Burdick” (oxygen.com/crime-news/age-progressed-photos-released-in-1982-case-of-lynn-burdick)
Media:
– Dateline NBC — segment on the disappearance of Lynn Burdick
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.