SYKESVILLE — Pennsylvania State Police Troop C, which covers the Tri-County area, is offering a $5,000 reward for information that solves a missing person cold case that dates back to 2007 in Sykesville.
Last week, state police posted information on the PSP Tips Facebook page about the missing person investigation of Joey Lynn Offutt, who was 33 years old when she was last seen at her home on Fugate Drive in Sykesville on July 4, 2007.
According to state police, eight days after Offutt was last seen, “at 4 a.m. on July 12 a loud explosion at Offutt’s house woke her neighbors and they discovered the house was on fire. After the fire department extinguished the blaze, they found the body of an infant in the house’s bathtub. The dead baby was subsequently identified through DNA as Offutt’s 6-week-old son. Investigators couldn’t determine the cause of death, but they established that the baby had been dead before the fire started. They discovered the blaze had been set with an unspecified accelerant.”
State police said Offutt’s disappearance was discovered at the time of the fire, and there was no sign that she had been in the home when it started. Her purse and identification were found in the rubble. Offutt’s two other children, ages 2 and 9, were not at the home at the time of the fire and placed in the care of relatives.
“On July 15, Offutt’s vehicle (a red 1994 Saturn with a Virginia license plate) was found abandoned along Waupelani Drive in State College, at the Nittany Gardens Apartments, where Offutt used to live. There was no sign of her at the scene, and nobody at the apartment complex remembers seeing her recently. The car was backed into the parking space neatly, and Offutt’s loved ones stated she was not a good driver and couldn’t have parked it so well,” according to state police.
State police posted authorities believe Offutt met with foul play and is now deceased. Offutt was declared legally dead, at her mother’s request, in 2016, with the date of death being July 12, 2007.
“She is described as a very trusting, naive and religious woman,” state police said. “She attended Shepherd University in West Virginia, but dropped out after a year. Her loved ones stated she had trouble maintaining jobs and relationships, and moved frequently. She has previously lived in Virginia and Texas.”
State police reported Offutt planned to marry the father of her baby son and enjoyed meeting people on the internet prior to her disappearance.
Anyone with information is asked to contact PSP Punxsutawney at 814-371-4652 or PSP Tips toll free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or online at https://www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=107
All callers to PSP Tips could be eligible for a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest, the solving of a crime/cold case or the location of a wanted person/fugitive or missing person.
PSP Tips, unveiled by state police in March, is a way for the public to share information related to active investigations, cold cases, the apprehension of wanted persons, or locating missing persons. The social media site includes information on nearly 100 cold case homicides, missing persons and other unsolved crimes.