Vermont 2012 Cold Case Solved: Arrest Stuns Quiet Mountain Valley After 13 Years

In October 2012, wildlife officer Nora Valdez vanished without a trace during a fierce nor’easter in Vermont’s Green Mountains. Her dark blue Subaru Outback was found abandoned on Route 100 near Warren Falls — driver’s door cracked open, coffee frozen solid in the travel mug, and no footprints in the fresh snow.

For 12 long years, one of Vermont’s most baffling missing-person cases remained unsolved. Search teams scoured the mountains. Evidence sat forgotten in storage. Hope slowly faded.

Then, in 2025, a breakthrough in familial DNA testing pointed investigators to a reclusive local woodlot owner living just miles from the scene. What they uncovered in an old quarry would finally reveal the truth behind Nora’s disappearance — a tragic accident, a panicked decision, and a secret buried beneath decades of snow and silence.

This is the chilling true story of the Vermont 2012 cold case that stunned a quiet mountain community.

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Sources: Vermont State Police reports, court documents, local news archives.

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