Justice for Julie

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What Happened the Night of March 20, 1995?

On the evening of March 20, 1995, Julie Lynn Ferguson, a 17-year-old high school student, ended her shift as a cashier at Linens N Things at a strip mall in Greenbelt, Maryland. She called her mom to confirm that friends were going to pick her up. She said goodnight to co-workers, went into the liquor store next door to buy a soda and sat on a flower box close to the street and waited for her ride. Witnesses waved to Julie as they ducked into the liquor store. They saw a red/maroon Jetta-like car pull up in front of where Julie was sitting but thought nothing of it, perhaps thinking the car was her ride or friends saying hello. However, when Julie’s actual friends arrived, Julie had vanished. The only trace left of her was a shopping bag and a soda can that was still wet with condensation.

Julie had no known enemies and was generally liked by many different groups of people. Those who knew Julie don’t think she would willingly get into a car with someone she didn’t know. Julie wouldn’t wait outside alone in an area where she thought she wasn’t safe. After all, the strip mall where she worked still had stores open—a liquor store, a Wendy’s, a Safeway. Greenbelt is known for its police presence and it wouldn’t have been unusual to see a patrol car standing or parked somewhere in the strip mall. People were rollerblading in the parking lot, friends and acquaintances of Julie saw or spoke to her up to moments before she vanished. She was there and then she was not.

The next morning, her body was found alongside a road named Daisy Lane, which is located just a few short miles from where she was taken. She had been strangled and her throat cut. There was no sign of sexual assault. No one knows if she knew her attacker(s) or if she was the victim of a random predator looking for an opportunity.

For the most accurate/comprehensive narrative,
please see In the Media for newspaper articles.

Julie’s murderer(s) may still be out there, even decades later. Perhaps this person or persons have more victims under their belt. Perhaps someone who knows something has been carrying the weight of this information for decades.

We urge anyone with information to do the right thing: Come forward and provide Julie’s family and friends with answers.

What has happened cannot be undone. Ever. Forgiveness is also not guaranteed, but it can never occur unless the guilty party comes forward.

We’re hoping that someone remembers something that will help solve this senseless murder. A Look Back: March 1995.