Overview

Full Name: Wendy Susan Byron

Age at Disappearance: 24 years old

Date Last Seen: August 1978 — August 18 in the current California Department of Justice profile; August 26 in The Charley Project and historical reporting

Last Known Location: Glendora, Los Angeles County, California

Case Classification: Endangered missing person; suspicious disappearance

Current Case Status: Unresolved; Wendy remains publicly listed as missing

Physical Description: White female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, 145 pounds, brown hair, green eyes

Investigating Agencies: Glendora Police Department; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the 2013 investigation

Official Case Number: 78-3033

Main Circumstances: Wendy disappeared from Glendora in August 1978. Her vehicle was later discovered at Ontario International Airport. Investigators have suspected foul play, but her death has not been publicly established.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Wendy Susan Byron: The Unsolved 1978 Disappearance in Glendora, California

In August 1978, 24-year-old Wendy Susan Byron disappeared from Glendora, California, leaving behind a mystery that has remained unresolved for decades. Her vehicle was subsequently discovered abandoned at Ontario International Airport, approximately 20 miles east of Glendora. Although investigators suspected foul play, Wendy’s whereabouts have never been established.

The case received renewed attention in May 2013 when investigators searched the backyard of the Glendora residence where Wendy had lived with her husband. Detectives, assisted by personnel from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and coroner’s office, excavated portions of the property in search of evidence.

The search did not produce a publicly confirmed discovery that resolved her disappearance.

More than 48 years after Wendy vanished, the central question remains unanswered: What happened to Wendy Susan Byron in the summer of 1978?

Sources: California Department of Justice, The Charley Project, and ABC7 Los Angeles.

Case Summary

Full Name: Wendy Susan Byron

Age at Disappearance: 24 years old

Date Last Seen: August 1978 — August 18 in the current California Department of Justice profile; August 26 in The Charley Project and historical reporting

Last Known Location: Glendora, Los Angeles County, California

Case Classification: Endangered missing person; suspicious disappearance

Current Case Status: Unresolved; Wendy remains publicly listed as missing

Physical Description: White female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, 145 pounds, brown hair, green eyes

Investigating Agencies: Glendora Police Department; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the 2013 investigation

Official Case Number: 78-3033

Main Circumstances: Wendy disappeared from Glendora in August 1978. Her vehicle was later discovered at Ontario International Airport. Investigators have suspected foul play, but her death has not been publicly established.

Important date discrepancy: The California Department of Justice’s current case profile records August 18, 1978, as Wendy’s last-seen date. The Charley Project, historical news coverage, and missing-person awareness materials identify August 26, 1978. No publicly verified explanation for this discrepancy was located. Both dates should be preserved until the investigating agency clarifies the official chronology.

Wendy Susan Byron’s Background and Life Before Her Disappearance

Wendy Susan Byron was born on May 7, 1954. At the time of her disappearance, she was 24 years old and living in Glendora, a community in eastern Los Angeles County, California.

According to historical reporting, Wendy resided with her husband, Robert Byron, at a home in the 500 block of Essex Street. The residence would later become an important location in the investigation.

Publicly available records provide relatively little verified information about Wendy’s childhood, education, employment, or personal interests. Rather than speculate about these details, it is important to recognize that Wendy was a young woman whose life extended far beyond the circumstances of her disappearance.

California’s official missing-person profile provides several identifying details. Wendy had brown hair and green eyes, stood approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighed about 145 pounds.

The state profile also records clothing and personal items associated with her disappearance: light blue pants, a pink blouse, a small light blue suitcase, and a solitaire emerald jewelry item. The public record does not clearly establish whether these items were confirmed to have been with her at the precise moment she disappeared.

The Charley Project additionally reports that Wendy had pierced ears.

Sources: California Department of Justice and The Charley Project.

The Disappearance in August 1978

Wendy disappeared from Glendora during August 1978 and was never reliably heard from again, according to the publicly available missing-person accounts.

The precise circumstances of her last confirmed sighting have not been established in the sources reviewed. Public records do not provide a verified last-seen witness account, a confirmed departure time, or a detailed reconstruction of her final known movements.

One of the most significant publicly reported developments occurred after her disappearance, when her vehicle was discovered abandoned at Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California.

The discovery raised questions about whether Wendy had traveled to the airport voluntarily, whether someone else had taken the vehicle there, and whether the airport location was intended to suggest that she had left the area.

However, these remain questions rather than established conclusions. The available reporting does not identify a confirmed driver, airport surveillance evidence, airline ticket, passenger record, or verified flight connected to Wendy’s disappearance.

The abandoned vehicle became a central element of the mystery because it provided a physical connection to a location away from her Glendora residence without establishing what happened to her.

Sources: The Charley Project and Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2013.

Investigation History and Evidence

The Original Investigation

The Glendora Police Department investigated Wendy’s disappearance after she was reported missing in 1978.

The circumstances were considered suspicious, and investigators examined the possibility that Wendy had been the victim of foul play.

Her husband, Robert Byron, came under suspicion during the investigation. Historical news reports identify him as a suspect, but there is no verified public record in the sources reviewed establishing that he was arrested or criminally charged in connection with Wendy’s disappearance.

That distinction is important: being investigated or described as a suspect does not establish criminal responsibility.

Over the following decades, the case remained unresolved, with no publicly confirmed recovery of Wendy’s remains or determination of her fate.

Statements About Wendy Allegedly Moving to Ohio

One disputed aspect of the case involves claims that Wendy left California and began a new life elsewhere.

In a May 2013 report, ABC7 Los Angeles described statements attributed to Robert Byron’s sister. According to that reporting, Robert had told family members that Wendy moved to Ohio and changed her identity. He also reportedly claimed to have spoken with Wendy years after she disappeared.

The same report indicated that other family members had not spoken with Wendy.

These statements are reported claims, not independently verified evidence that Wendy was alive in Ohio.

No authenticated contact, confirmed identity change, or documented relocation was established in the reviewed sources.

ABC7 also reported comments from an acquaintance who described Robert as saying that he and Wendy had argued before her disappearance. This was a recollection provided many years after the event, not a publicly established finding about what caused Wendy to vanish.

Robert did not respond to the news organization’s requests for comment at the time of its reporting.

Source: ABC7 Los Angeles.

The May 2013 Search of the Glendora Property

Historical coverage of the 2013 investigative search in Glendora.

In May 2013, investigators returned to the Essex Street property where Wendy had lived before her disappearance.

The search represented one of the most substantial publicly documented investigative efforts in the case.

On May 22, detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department assisted Glendora authorities with an excavation of the residence’s backyard.

The following day, investigators resumed searching the property with assistance from the coroner’s office.

According to CBS Los Angeles, search personnel used equipment that included ground-penetrating radar, along with digging tools, to examine the area.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Holly Francisco told reporters that investigators had received information directing them to the property. Officials declined to disclose the information because they did not want to compromise the investigation.

The decision to search the backyard suggested that investigators considered the location potentially significant, but authorities did not publicly establish that Wendy had been buried there.

The search also did not imply wrongdoing by the property’s owners at that time. Investigators specifically indicated that the current residents were not involved in the case.

Results of the Search

ABC7 reported that investigators had not found evidence of a body during the initial excavation.

The Charley Project’s subsequent case summary states that the May 2013 search produced no evidence.

No publicly verified discovery of Wendy’s remains or other conclusive physical evidence resulted from the search.

The investigation nevertheless demonstrated that authorities were willing to revisit the decades-old case and examine potential leads using methods that had not been available when Wendy disappeared.

Sources: CBS Los Angeles, May 23, 2013, Los Angeles Times, and The Charley Project.

Physical and Forensic Evidence

The publicly documented evidence is limited.

The abandoned vehicle at Ontario International Airport is a significant reported fact, but the sources reviewed do not establish whether investigators recovered fingerprints, biological material, or other forensic evidence from it.

Similarly, no publicly verified DNA profile, genetic genealogy result, laboratory identification, or forensic match was located in the reviewed case reporting.

The California Department of Justice profile specifically records that dental X-rays are not available.

This does not necessarily mean investigators possess no additional evidence. Law enforcement agencies frequently withhold investigative information, particularly in unresolved cases.

It means only that the existence or results of such evidence cannot be confirmed from the public sources reviewed.

Theories and Unresolved Questions

Several possibilities have been discussed in connection with Wendy’s disappearance. None has been conclusively established by the publicly available evidence.

Was Wendy the Victim of Foul Play?

Foul play has long been suspected, according to missing-person databases and historical reporting.

The suspicion is consistent with the disappearance’s unresolved circumstances, the abandoned vehicle, and the investigative attention directed toward Wendy’s former residence.

However, authorities stated during the 2013 search that the matter continued to be treated as a missing-person investigation unless evidence demonstrated otherwise.

There is no publicly verified homicide determination, identified cause of death, or criminal conviction connected to Wendy’s disappearance.

Did Wendy Voluntarily Leave California?

The claim that Wendy relocated to Ohio and changed her identity has been publicly reported.

However, the reviewed sources do not provide independent documentation supporting that account.

Without verified contact, financial records, identification documents, or another reliable confirmation, the voluntary-disappearance explanation remains unproven.

Why Was Her Vehicle at Ontario International Airport?

The airport discovery is one of the case’s most enduring unanswered questions.

It is not publicly established whether Wendy drove there, whether someone else transported her vehicle, or whether the location had any connection to actual air travel.

The presence of the vehicle at an airport is not, by itself, evidence that Wendy boarded an aircraft or left California.

What Information Prompted the 2013 Excavation?

Authorities acknowledged receiving information that led them to the Essex Street residence, but they did not publicly identify the source or describe the complete substance of the lead.

As a result, it remains unclear whether the search followed a new witness statement, a reexamination of historical evidence, or another investigative development.

No particular explanation should be treated as fact without official confirmation.

Sources: ABC7 Los Angeles, CBS Los Angeles, and The Charley Project.

Latest Publicly Available Investigative Updates

May 22–23, 2013: Renewed Search

The most recent substantial investigative activity verified in the reviewed reporting was the two-day search of Wendy’s former Glendora residence in May 2013.

The operation involved the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, coroner personnel, and investigative resources including ground-penetrating radar.

The search did not result in a publicly confirmed resolution.

April 26, 2021: Missing-Person Profile Update

The Charley Project reports that Wendy’s profile was last updated on April 26, 2021, when four photographs were added.

This was a missing-person information update, not a confirmed new investigative breakthrough.

October 2026: Current Public Status

As of this review in October 2026, Wendy remains listed in the California Department of Justice’s public missing-person database.

No publicly confirmed recent developments were located establishing an arrest, criminal charge, recovery or identification of remains, DNA identification, genetic genealogy breakthrough, or resolution of the case.

The absence of a public announcement does not prove that investigators have stopped working on the case.

The California Department of Justice continues to list the Glendora Police Department as the reporting agency, while 2013 reporting documented investigative involvement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Sources: California Department of Justice, The Charley Project, and CBS Los Angeles.

Conclusion: The Search for Answers Continues

Wendy Susan Byron was just 24 years old when she disappeared from Glendora, California, in August 1978.

Her vehicle was later found at Ontario International Airport, and the circumstances of her disappearance prompted decades of questions about where she went and whether someone was responsible.

The renewed investigation in 2013 brought attention to the case but did not provide the answers that had been missing for so many years.

Wendy’s case remains an unresolved missing-person investigation. Her fate has not been publicly established, and the available evidence does not justify describing her death as a confirmed homicide.

Anyone who has credible information about Wendy’s disappearance, her vehicle’s presence at Ontario International Airport, or the events surrounding August 1978 is encouraged to contact the Glendora Police Department at (626) 914-8250 and reference case 78-3033.

Information can also be reported through the California Department of Justice missing-person hotline at 1-800-222-3463.

Even information that seems minor may help investigators reconstruct the events surrounding Wendy’s disappearance.

After nearly half a century, Wendy Susan Byron deserves to be remembered as more than an unsolved case, and those who care about her deserve reliable answers.