Police seek help in 1972 death of Indianapolis woman

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) – Authorities are seeking the public’s help in trying to solve the 1972 death of a 27-year-old Indianapolis woman whose body was found in a ditch near Fort Wayne with her 3-year-old uninjured daughter nearby.

State police and the Allen County Police Department are investigating the death of Phyllis Bailer. Police say she was headed to a relative’s home in Bluffton, 25 miles south of Fort Wayne, on July 7, 1972, but never arrived. They say her car overheated on Interstate 69 in Grant County about 40 miles from Bluffton.

Her car was found the next day. A short time later, her body was found near Huntertown, 10 miles north of Fort Wayne.

Police are seeking information about her death and her whereabouts after the car overheated.