Cindy Leslie

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (AZ)

Missing From:

Mesa, Arizona

Summary:

Cynthia Ardina "Cindy" Leslie was a teenager who went missing along with her sister, Jackie, in 1974. On the night of July 31, 1974, Cindy and Jackie's parents had gone to church and left the girls at home with their grandmother. After Cindy received a phone call, both she and Jackie left a note that said they had gone to babysit at the same place they usually do, and they left the house. At the time deputies in Maricopa County believed something criminal happened to them and they continue to suspect foul play. Family and investigators say this case is especially puzzling and the mission to find Cindy and Jackie have been impossible so far because nobody has found any evidence related to the girl's disappearance.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

In mid-1974, sisters Cynthia Ardina Leslie and Jackie Lynn Leslie moved to Mesa, Arizona, with their family. Their father had been battling terminal lung cancer, so they left Page, Arizona, and relocated to Mesa to be near his medical team. On the night of July 31, 1974, Cindy and Jackie's parents had gone to church and left the girls at home with their grandmother. After Cindy received a phone call, both she and Jackie left a note that said they had gone to babysit at the same place they usually do, and they left the house. Erma discovered her daughters had planned on attending a party located on Power Road, approximately three blocks away from their home. Cynthia supposedly wanted to meet up with a boy whom her parents had forbidden her from seeing. Cindy and Jackie were last seen walking down Baseline road. Some people that were at the party claim that they saw the girls there, but others say they never showed up. Tragically, they never returned, and by the following morning, the Leslie family contacted the police. Searches were conducted that same day in the orange groves and desert areas surrounding Mesa. Police would not allow their mother to file a missing person report for 48 hours.

Additional Details:

In April 1974, Cindy ran away from home and went to stay with a woman named Joanne. Jack went to the police station to report her missing and also told the officers of his belief that she was with Joanne. Few details have been released about this person, but she apparently owned a home that was known to be a party house. Jack went there himself, found his daughter and brought her home. A detective from Maricopa County came to Nevada to collect DNA samples from them, but they haven't heard anything since then. Albert Jack Leslie died of cancer on Feb. 21, 1975, about seven months after the girls disappeared. The girls' mother remarried after their father's death. She moved to Kingman, Arizona in 1999 to be closer to her oldest daughter, who resides in Nevada. There have been many people that have claimed to have seen Cindy and Jackie alive and well, however, their mother investigated most, if not all, of those leads, and never found anything.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 30, 2026