Overview

Full name: Suzanne Marie Schultz

Age at disappearance: 17

Date of birth: April 2, 1961

Date last seen: December 1978, exact date unknown. December 1, 1978, is the administrative date used in missing-person records.

Last known locations: Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin; subsequently in contact with family from Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, in July 1979.

Case classification: Endangered missing person; the Wisconsin Department of Justice lists her as an endangered runaway.

Current status: Missing; unresolved as of October 18, 2026.

Physical description at disappearance: White female, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, 120 pounds, brown hair and green eyes. She reportedly wore glasses.

Investigating agency: Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin.

NamUs reference: MP6635

NCMEC reference: 966014

NCIC reference: M416142929

Suzanne was last seen leaving her Wisconsin home in December 1978. In July 1979, she communicated with her family from Florida and indicated she intended to return. She did not arrive, and a trailer connected to her travels was later located in Illinois. No confirmed explanation for her disappearance has been publicly established.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Suzanne Marie Schultz: The 1978 Disappearance Connecting Wisconsin, Florida, and Illinois

In December 1978, 17-year-old Suzanne Marie Schultz left her family home in Black Earth, Wisconsin. Months later, she contacted her family from Tampa, Florida, and said she planned to return home. She never arrived.

By September 1979, a U-Haul trailer associated with Suzanne and a man named Stephen Craig Lund had been discovered abandoned in Chicago, Illinois. Both were reported missing, leaving investigators and their families with unanswered questions about what happened during the final months of their known travels.

More than four decades later, Suzanne’s disappearance remains unresolved. Her case continues to appear in the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) database and the Wisconsin Department of Justice missing-person clearinghouse.

Case Summary

Full name: Suzanne Marie Schultz

Age at disappearance: 17

Date of birth: April 2, 1961

Date last seen: December 1978, exact date unknown. December 1, 1978, is the administrative date used in missing-person records.

Last known locations: Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin; subsequently in contact with family from Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, in July 1979.

Case classification: Endangered missing person; the Wisconsin Department of Justice lists her as an endangered runaway.

Current status: Missing; unresolved as of October 18, 2026.

Physical description at disappearance: White female, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, 120 pounds, brown hair and green eyes. She reportedly wore glasses.

Investigating agency: Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin.

NamUs reference: MP6635

NCMEC reference: 966014

NCIC reference: M416142929

Suzanne was last seen leaving her Wisconsin home in December 1978. In July 1979, she communicated with her family from Florida and indicated she intended to return. She did not arrive, and a trailer connected to her travels was later located in Illinois. No confirmed explanation for her disappearance has been publicly established.

Suzanne Schultz’s Background and Disappearance in 1978

A teenager from Black Earth, Wisconsin

Suzanne Marie Schultz was born on April 2, 1961. She was 17 when she disappeared in 1978.

Her hometown of Black Earth is in Dane County, Wisconsin, west of Madison. Public missing-person records identify this community as the place she left before her disappearance became a long-running investigation.

Suzanne had brown hair, green eyes, and a slender build. She may also have used the names Sue or Susan, details that could be important when examining historical records or recollections from people who knew her.

Limited verified information is publicly available about Suzanne’s education, friendships, employment, or everyday activities before she left Wisconsin. Those gaps should not be filled with assumptions about her personal circumstances.

The Suzanne Marie Schultz – The Charley Project documents her physical characteristics, birth date, and known disappearance circumstances.

Leaving home in December 1978

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Suzanne was last seen leaving her home sometime during December 1978.

Although missing-person databases use December 1, 1978, as her disappearance date, the state explicitly identifies that date as an approximation. The precise day she departed has not been publicly established.

The Wisconsin clearinghouse categorizes her case as an endangered runaway. That designation does not establish that Suzanne voluntarily remained away from home throughout the following months, nor does it explain why communication eventually stopped.

The public record does not establish exactly how she traveled from Wisconsin to Florida, when she arrived in Tampa, or every location where she stayed.

Source: Wisconsin DOJ Missing Person Profile.

The July 1979 contact from Tampa, Florida

A critical development occurred in July 1979, approximately seven months after Suzanne left Wisconsin.

According to NCMEC and The Charley Project, Suzanne contacted her family from Tampa, Florida. She was believed to be staying with Stephen Craig Lund, a man approximately 15 years older than her.

Suzanne told her family that she intended to return home on August 4, 1979. She never arrived.

The July contact is important because it establishes that Suzanne was reportedly still communicating with her family months after leaving Wisconsin. However, the precise date of her final confirmed communication is not consistently documented across the publicly available records.

There is also a geographic discrepancy. NCMEC and The Charley Project place the July communication in Tampa, while the Wisconsin DOJ clearinghouse describes it as originating from Chicago, Illinois. Neither location should be presented as conclusively verified without acknowledging that difference.

Stephen Craig Lund and the second disappearance

Stephen Craig Lund was reportedly 32 years old when he disappeared in 1979.

The Charley Project states that Lund told his family in Illinois he planned to return home on July 4, 1979. He did not arrive.

Suzanne reportedly planned to return to her own family on August 4, approximately one month later.

Both disappeared from their families’ lives, and neither completed the expected return.

The available public records do not establish the precise nature of their relationship, why they were traveling together, or whether either encountered danger.

Lund’s association with Suzanne is a documented part of the case, but it does not establish that he committed a crime against her.

The abandoned U-Haul trailer in Chicago

In September 1979, a U-Haul trailer associated with Suzanne and Lund was found abandoned in Chicago, Illinois.

This is one of the most significant publicly documented physical leads in the case.

The trailer’s discovery connects the investigation to a third state and raises questions about the pair’s movements after their reported time in Florida.

However, publicly accessible case summaries do not provide a detailed account of the trailer’s exact recovery location, who discovered it, what belongings were inside, or whether investigators recovered forensic evidence.

The trailer’s discovery alone does not establish that Suzanne or Lund was physically present in Chicago when it was abandoned.

Neither person’s whereabouts were conclusively established afterward.

Investigation History and Available Evidence

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office investigation

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office is identified as the investigating agency in Suzanne’s missing-person records.

Her disappearance involves several potentially important jurisdictions: Wisconsin, where she originally lived; Florida, where she reportedly contacted her family; and Illinois, where the trailer was recovered.

The publicly documented investigation has several principal elements: Suzanne’s departure from Wisconsin, her subsequent family communication, her association with Lund, the separate return dates that were not fulfilled, and the abandoned trailer.

These circumstances provide investigators with possible avenues for reviewing historical records, locating witnesses, and establishing a more complete travel chronology.

However, the public record does not provide a comprehensive list of interviews, searches, warrants, or investigative findings.

Physical and forensic evidence

The abandoned U-Haul trailer is the most clearly documented recovered item associated with the disappearance.

There is no verified public description of fingerprints, biological material, personal possessions, or other evidence recovered from it.

Online discussions have mentioned dental records and DNA information, but the available official case summaries do not establish the full status of any forensic testing.

No confirmed DNA identification, genetic-genealogy breakthrough, or forensic match resolving Suzanne’s disappearance was located in the reviewed sources.

Age-progression images and missing-person databases

NCMEC continues to display Suzanne’s missing-person poster, including an age-progressed image depicting her at approximately 51 years old.

Age progression is intended to help the public recognize how a missing person might have appeared years after disappearing. It is not evidence that the person was alive at the age depicted.

Suzanne’s official poster identifies NCMEC case 966014 and NCIC number M416142929.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice also maintains a public missing-person entry and downloadable poster, listing NamUs reference MP6635.

These records help preserve identifying information and provide a way for people with relevant information to contact authorities.

Theories and Unresolved Questions

Did Suzanne and Lund disappear together?

One possibility is that Suzanne and Lund continued traveling together after their reported time in Florida.

Their overlapping disappearances and the abandoned trailer make their movements relevant to both cases.

However, no publicly verified evidence establishes when they were last physically together or what happened afterward.

It is also unknown whether their disappearances resulted from the same event.

Could Suzanne have encountered foul play?

Foul play is a possibility that cannot be ruled out based on the available public information.

Suzanne was a minor when she left Wisconsin, and her failure to return after communicating with her family is concerning.

Nevertheless, the available official records do not confirm that she was murdered, identify a homicide suspect, or establish a cause of death.

Her case must therefore continue to be described as an unresolved missing-person investigation rather than a confirmed homicide.

Online speculation about unidentified remains

Community discussions on Websleuths have considered possible connections between Suzanne, Lund, and unidentified human remains recovered in other cases.

One discussion in June 2024 raised the possibility of a connection to unidentified remains discovered near Homestead, Florida, in 1982.

This was a community-generated suggestion, not an officially confirmed identification or investigative finding. There is no verified public confirmation that the remains belong to Suzanne or Lund, or that a forensic comparison established a match.

Such theories may generate tips, but they should not be treated as evidence without confirmation from law enforcement or forensic authorities.

Source: Websleuths Lund Discussion.

Questions that remain unanswered

Several central questions have never received publicly confirmed answers:

• What were Suzanne’s exact movements between December 1978 and July 1979?
• Where and when did Suzanne last communicate directly with someone who could independently verify her location?
• When were Suzanne and Lund last known to be together?
• Who last possessed the U-Haul trailer before its recovery in Chicago?
• What happened to Suzanne after she failed to return home in August 1979?

These are unresolved investigative questions, not findings that a crime occurred.

Latest Publicly Available Investigative Updates

Continuing missing-person listings

As of October 18, 2026, Suzanne remains listed as missing in the publicly accessible records reviewed for this article.

NCMEC continues to display her missing-person poster, while the Wisconsin Department of Justice maintains her clearinghouse entry and identifies the Dane County Sheriff’s Office as the contact agency.

The Charley Project also maintains a detailed case profile. Its publicly displayed update history identifies February 26, 2017, as the most recent substantive update to the disappearance narrative. This is a database maintenance date, not evidence of a new investigative breakthrough.

Community interest in 2024 and 2026

Websleuths discussions have continued to examine Suzanne’s disappearance and its possible connection to Lund.

In June 2024, a participant proposed comparing the missing pair with unidentified remains from a separate Florida case.

In January 2026, another participant reported correspondence with an investigator and discussed questions surrounding Lund’s records and case status.

These statements are individual forum participants’ accounts. They have not been independently verified through an official law enforcement announcement and do not establish that Lund has been located, that a death has been confirmed, or that Suzanne’s disappearance has been solved.

No publicly confirmed recent breakthrough

No publicly confirmed recent investigative developments were located establishing an arrest, criminal charge, identification of Suzanne’s remains, successful DNA match, or resolution of her disappearance.

No new official search results, forensic findings, or investigative conclusions could be verified from the sources reviewed.

The continuing availability of her missing-person records and the existence of community discussions should not be mistaken for new evidence.

Conclusion: Suzanne Schultz’s Disappearance Remains Unsolved

Suzanne Marie Schultz was only 17 when she left Wisconsin in December 1978. Months later, she was reportedly in Florida, communicating with her family and making plans to return home.

Those plans were never fulfilled.

The discovery of an abandoned trailer in Chicago added another location to an already complicated disappearance. The apparent disappearance of Stephen Craig Lund further complicated efforts to reconstruct Suzanne’s final known movements.

Despite decades of uncertainty, there is still no publicly established explanation for what happened to her.

Anyone with credible information about Suzanne’s whereabouts, her travels in 1978 or 1979, Stephen Craig Lund, or the abandoned trailer is encouraged to contact the Dane County Sheriff’s Office at 608-266-4948.

Information may also be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST).

Even an old recollection, document, photograph, or travel-related detail could be relevant if it can be verified. Suzanne’s family and investigators deserve reliable information rather than unsupported accusations or speculation.