In the tranquil town of Roseville, Minnesota, Cindy Mae Brown was last seen on March 10, 1980. On that day, the 22-year-old informed her supervisor at Kmart that she was planning to leave town. According to her roommate Patrick Thomas Walsh, she allegedly left in a brown van with a woman and two men. Uncharacteristically, Brown did not take her own car, and she has not been heard from since.
Despite her sudden disappearance, Brown wasn’t reported missing until July 29, 1980—nearly four and a half months later. At that time, she resided on Rice Street in Roseville. Initially, authorities speculated she had left of her own choosing.
The Investigation
Patrick Thomas Walsh had a dubious past. As a teenager, he possessed an extensive criminal record, including a period of hospitalization at St. Peter Hospital after being declared not guilty by reason of insanity in an attempted murder case of a 23-year-old woman. Notably, he was released from the hospital in 1977, three years before Brown’s disappearance, with doctors describing him as having an anti-social personality but not mentally ill.
In 1984, Cindy Brown’s case took a darker turn. Another of Walsh’s acquaintances, Cindy Gerdes, was found stabbed to death in her Lake Calhoun, MN, home. Although he was considered a possible suspect, no charges were brought against him at the time.
Then, in 1991, Walsh was charged with the murder, burglary, and sexual assault of another female coworker, Pamela Susan Sweeney. Exhibiting increasingly alarming behavior, he stalked Sweeney and invaded her home multiple times before murdering her on May 31, 1991. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison later that year.
The Case Today
The open ends in Cindy Mae Brown’s case continue to haunt her family and authorities. Despite reclassifying her disappearance as a possible homicide and designating Walsh as a suspect, her case remains unsolved, with scant clues pointing to her whereabouts or fate. Walsh, now a convicted murderer, is the primary person of interest in connection to the cold case.
Cindy Mae Brown was described as a 22-year-old Caucasian woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She stood 5’2″ tall and weighed about 110 lbs at the time she went missing. She had curly hair and bore a distinctive scar on her left pinky finger, stretching from her palm to her fingertip.
For those with any information that might lead to solving Cindy’s mysterious disappearance, the Roseville Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension remain hopeful and accessible for tips.
Physical Description
- Date of Birth: December 20, 1957
- Age: 22 years old
- Race: White
- Gender: Female
- Height: 5’2″
- Weight: 110 lbs
- Hair Color: Brown
- Eye Color: Blue
- Distinguishing Marks/Features: Curly brown hair; Scar on left pinky finger from tip to palm.
- Last Seen: July 29, 1980
Identifiers
- Dentals: Not Available
- Fingerprints: Not Available
- DNA: Available
Should you have any leads or pertinent information regarding Cindy’s case, please contact:
- Roseville Police Department: Detective Jamie Baker, (651) 792-7008, [email protected]
- Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: (651) 793-7000
Cindy Mae Brown’s case remains a mystery, a story shrouded in mystery, waiting to be unveiled with the hope that one day justice will be served.
