44 years after young mother’s murder, Davie police turn to new DNA testing

Forty-four years after a young mother was kidnapped and murdered, Davie police are hoping new DNA technology can lead to her killer.

Delores Bailey was a young mom who moved from Pennsylvania to Hollywood in the early 1980s. At 24, while working the overnight shift at a 7‑Eleven on North Federal Highway, she vanished.

“She never came home. She had a husband and a child at home. They reported her as missing,” Davie Police Officer Julia Ross said.

That was January 1982. A year later, a landscaper found her remains near Griffin Road and the Florida Turnpike in Davie. She had been shot multiple times in the head.

“It’s like an open wound that has never healed for our family,” said Melissa McBride, Bailey’s niece. Even though McBride was born four years after her aunt was killed, the mystery surrounding the murder has haunted her for her entire life.

“It leaves a hole in me,” she said, fighting back tears. “I hear stories about her and really wish I had met her.”

Davie Cold Case Detective Eddie Velazquez is digging into the case file more than four decades later. He’s focusing on DNA found at the scene — trying to determine whether it could be a clue about the killer. Bailey’s son is providing a DNA sample so investigators have something to compare it to.

“Once we get that DNA tested, it’s used to eliminate whether it’s her DNA. Whatever it is we have from the crime scene, it would eliminate it being her and possibly link to a suspect,” Velazquez said.

Bailey’s family is holding out hope that the DNA results could lead to the killer — and answer painful questions that they’ve carried for decades.

“She’s part of the family, no matter what happened, she’s part of the family, and she was a person, and she was loved, and I always want her story to be out there and known,” McBride said.

Broward Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information. Call 954‑493‑TIPS.

This report was produced by Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami.

This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 2:54 PM.