DISAPPEARED 3 DECADES AGO: FAMILY BELIEVES MISSING FLORIDA WOMAN IS DEAD AND DETERMINED TO FIND HER BODY

She had dreams like everyone else, but life and bad choices got in the way for Marinthia Ann McCoy. 

It has been 32 years and the Daytona Beach police still don’t have an answer for her family about where she is and what happened to her. But, they continue to ask for the public’s help for information about her case. 

According to the police, the 26-year-old mother and alcoholic was last seen leaving Daytona Beach with a limo service to return to her home in Jacksonville, Florida. A day before she disappeared, McCoy checked into a Marriot Hotel in Daytona with a male acquaintance. They were reported to have gone to Jacksonville, where Marinthia had competed in a bikini competition in a local bar. 

The duo returned to Daytona with a limo service at about 3.00 a.m., and 30 minutes later, McCoy requested the limo service to take her back to Jacksonville. That was the last time Marinthia was seen alive.

Sandra Thornton, McCoy’s mother when she spoke to Tampa Bay Times, said the police had questioned the limo service driver, who was later incarcerated for bank robbery. He said he dropped McCoy somewhere in Jacksonville and vehemently denied knowing anything about her disappearance.

Investigators had no way of disproving his story and there were no accounts of eyewitnesses who saw her after that day.

At the time of her disappearance, McCoy left behind her son, a brand new car, a new home and a bartending job. Her family is convinced she is dead and buried along the 90 miles of highway between Daytona and Jacksonville.

 Over the years, Thornton had adopted an unorthodox technique of digging along the stretch of highway in a desperate attempt to find her daughter.

The family is hopeful that her body will be found someday, which might yield clues about how she died and what exactly happened to Mccoy that fateful day.

At the time, authorities had her description and they were hopeful she would show up someday. She was a white female, 5-feet tall and 135 pounds, with brown/blonde hair and blue eyes. In addition, she had a large rose tattoo on her left arm and the Rolling Stone’s logo tattooed on her.  

If anyone has any information that could help solve this case, please call the Daytona Beach Police Department at 386-671-5100.