Fifty-two years to the day after Joyce Arcuri was found shot on a dirt road off Bonita Avenue in Owings Mills, Baltimore County Police are still asking the public for help solving her killing. Arcuri was just 28 years old when she died on Nov. 8, 1974, and her case remains open.
The Baltimore County Police Department renewed its appeal for information this week, writing in a post on X
that Arcuri was found shot on the dirt road off Bonita Avenue, and that her 1966 Chevy turned up parked near the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore City. The department is using the hashtag #JusticeForJoyceArcuri in its outreach and is asking anyone with information to call 410-887-3943.
According to Fox Baltimore, Arcuri was discovered dead on the morning of Nov. 8, 1974, in a wooded area off Bonita Avenue in Owings Mills. The outlet reported separately that her car was found parked near the Walters Art Gallery, miles away in Baltimore City — a detail that has long puzzled investigators piecing together her final movements.
A Disputed Detail About Money Owed
Fox Baltimore's report also noted that friends and family of Arcuri indicated she owed someone money before her death. That account comes from people close to Arcuri rather than from police, and it has not been independently corroborated elsewhere in the record of the case.
No suspect, motive, or resolution has been publicly identified in the more than five decades since Arcuri was killed. Under Maryland law, a prosecution for murder, manslaughter, or unlawful homicide may be instituted regardless of how much time has elapsed, according to the Maryland General Assembly's criminal law statute — though the statute itself does not indicate whether charges will ultimately be filed in any particular case.
How to Report a Tip
Anyone with information about Arcuri's death is asked to contact Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP or the Baltimore County Police Department, per the station's report. Baltimore County Police have said the department does not collect tips through its social media accounts and that 911 should be used only for emergencies.
More than fifty years on, Arcuri's case remains a reminder of how many Baltimore County homicides from the 1970s are still waiting for an answer. Investigators have offered no update on the circumstances surrounding her death beyond what was reported at the time, and the gap between where she was found and where her car was left remains unexplained in the public record.
