BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A Maryland cold case reached a grim fifty-year milestone this March; police continue to search for answers in the 1975 murder of 14-year-old Francis Daniel Crocetti.
Known to family and friends as "Danny," the Southern High School student disappeared after attending a party on March 24, 1975, in the Arbutus area near the Baltimore City and County line. Four days later, children playing in nearby woods discovered his body in a stream, less than a mile from where he was last seen alive.
According to Baltimore County Police, Danny attended a party on Alan Drive, across the way from Our Lady of Victory Church, around 11 p.m. on the night he disappeared. He had not informed his family about his plans to attend the gathering.
"We know that he was at that party that night, and there were lots of partygoers that were there with him, to include school age kids. So he possibly left the party alone, but we're not too clear on that one. He had been at a party with a lot of people the last time he was seen alive," explained Cpl. Dona Carter of the Baltimore County Police Department.
After Danny was reported missing, his family members were in the area when police activity began in the woods behind homes on Melbourne Road on March 28, 1975.
"Because Danny had been reported missing, his family just happened to be in the area also, they see the police activity and they actually say, 'Hey, I'm a little worried that might be my son who's there in the woods, can I come and see?'" said Carter.
Danny's father and uncle immediately identified him. The teenager had been stabbed to death.
Fifty years after the murder, investigators are still piecing together what happened that night.
"It's just, kind of, conflicting stories. These are kids that are at a party, and they're doing things they shouldn't be doing. So it's unclear, there are some reports that he left alone, there's some reports he may have left with one or more individuals. We believe that he left the party, but it's just really unclear on what happened, or when it happened, exactly," Carter said.
Police interviewed several partygoers at the time, but the investigation yielded no arrests. Detectives have stated they have no evidence connecting Danny's murder to scandals surrounding the Catholic Church in the mid-1970s, despite social media speculation based on the crime's proximity to Our Lady of Victory Church.
Investigators believe there may still be witnesses who haven't come forward.
"Even still, we may not have talked to everyone who was at that party that night. So anyone who might have seen him the night he went missing, or anyone who may have heard anything - even just through other people talking, even if it was just a rumor, it might be important to us and it might mean something to the investigation," said Carter.
Anyone with information about Danny Crocetti's murder is urged to call Baltimore County Police at 410-887-3943.
Police look for leads in murder, unsolved for 50 years
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