Indiana County girl who vanished in '87 still a mystery

State police are asking for the public's help to solve the disappearance of a 15-year-old Indiana County girl nearly a quarter-century ago.

Police at the Indiana barracks have scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday to bring attention to the case of Alicia Bernice Markovich, who was last seen leaving her father's Dunn Avenue home in Burrell Township on April 26, 1987.

Authorities said the press briefing on the anniversary of Markovich's disappearance is an attempt to reach out to people who might have information related to the case.

Markovich's family members have been invited to talk about her and answer reporters' questions. Markovich's mother, Marcie Smith, now lives in Stoystown, and her father, John Markovich, has residences in Burrell and Painesville, Ohio, police said.

Markovich, a high school freshman, lived with her mother in Windber, Somerset County, after her parents divorced, but she was visiting her father on the day she disappeared.

John Markovich told police that his daughter stormed out of his house after they had an argument, and she never returned. He reported her as missing a day later.

In a 2005 Tribune-Review series on cold cases in the region, a state police sergeant said that police were at a crossroads because they had no significant leads in the case and no physical evidence to test.

Authorities previously investigated a letter John Markovich received in 2000 that claimed to give details about the girl's death and where her body was buried, but police were unable to find any human remains.

Trooper John Matchik, public information officer for the Indiana barracks, was not available for comment on the investigation Friday.