Every year, Julie Benning and her four sisters helped their father clear rocks from the field before he planted.

She was bright, beautiful, spunky and ambitious, and always eager to get out and meet people and make things happen. She had a zany laugh and quick smile, designed and sewed her own dresses, loved live music and the weekly Top 100 Countdown.

She also was an avid reader — Nancy Drew mysteries were a favorite — was already writing her own stories and had an interest in investigative journalism. But the day after Thanksgiving in 1975, Julie Ann Benning suddenly vanished without a trace.

The recent Plainfield High School graduate’s whereabouts remained a mystery for nearly four months until a Butler County road maintenance worker discovered her body alongside a quiet country road. Thirty-four years after the spirited and independent teen first went missing, her case remains unsolved.