Unsolved for nearly 40 years, disappearance of Cindy Louise Moore still haunts Oakland Co.

As of Thursday, she disappeared exactly 39 years ago.

Her car was found in Madison Heights. Police questioned her estranged husband. But he was never charged. Now, almost four decades later, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard wonders: Is someone finally ready to talk about the disappearance of Cindy Louise Moore?

"It was closing in on 40 years and we never stop working on cold cases," Bouchard said Wednesday, through a spokesman. Here's what investigators say led up to Moore's disappearance:

It was a Thursday night at 11 p.m., on May 23, 1985. Moore finished her shift at a U.S. Postal Service processing center in Troy. Detectives believe she was headed to Warren, where her estranged husband William Moore lived, to pick up their two-year-old son, Nicholas. Then she would drive to Independence Township, where she was temporarily living with her parents.

But Moore didn't pick up her son. The 28-year-old mother never got to her parents' house. Ever since, detectives have sought the crucial information that would crack this case, Bouchard said.

“Sometimes, after years have passed, people that have information or knowledge are more willing to share and come forward. Oftentimes, guilt has been weighing on them or their fear has diminished," he said, adding a plea to potential informants: "Please help us give this family some closure."

Murder is suspected, but Moore’s case is officially classified as “Endangered Missing.” She was last seen by a coworker, who saw Moore driving her silver 1984 Ford Tempo near the intersection of 14 Mile Road and I-75. That was roughly 15 minutes after Moore left work on that spring night in 1985, when a hit song on the radio was "Don't You Forget About Me" by the Scottish band Simple Minds.

Exactly a week after Moore went missing, her car was found on May 30, 1985, backed into a parking space in front of room number 153 of the Red Roof Inn, at 14 Mile Road and John R in Madison Heights. Police determined that the car had been there since the day after she was last seen. The car was locked, the keys were missing, and there was no evidence of a struggle.

The car's location initially was reported as being at a nearby movie theater. That incorrect location was reported in some news stories at the time, and it has been cited through the years in online comments about the case. That incorrect location also appears in the online registry for missing persons called the Charley Project.

Moore had made a down payment on a mobile home in Auburn Hills and was planning to move there with her son. She left behind all of her clothing, and her bank account went untouched after her disappearance. Her husband admitted having once assaulted her during an argument, grabbing her by the throat. But he was never charged with any crime.

At the family home in Warren, where Moore's husband was living at the time of her disappearance, police discovered that a swimming pool had been filled in shortly after she went missing. Police dug up the pool and searched the backyard. They found nothing.

"Foul play is suspected in her disappearance," says an Oakland County news release about Moore's case. Anyone with information can contact the Oakland County Sheriff's Office at 248-858-4950, ext. 8.

Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland Sheriff wants help in 1985 disappearance of Cindy Louise Moore