FBI releases new info, reward, on 45th anniversary of cold case

BURLINGTON CITY, N.J. (WPVI) -- On the 45th anniversary of one of New Jersey's oldest cold cases, the FBI is putting out a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

FBI agents also released a new audio file of a phone call Margaret Fox's parents received in the days after she disappeared. Authorities are hoping someone may recognize the voice.

"An individual called the house, reiterating a ransom note received from the family," said Chief John Fine of the Burlington City Police Department.

In the six-second-long recording, a deep voice is heard saying, "$10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the buttered topping."

Margaret's mother can be heard responding, "Who is this?"

Authorities say technological advances have just now enabled them to release this phone call.

"We hope this renewed effort might produce results that might give Margaret Fox's family some sense of closure," said Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Joseph Denahan.

On June 24, 1974, police say Margaret Fox, 14, got on a bus near her home in Burlington City, N.J., to what she thought was a new babysitting job. She was to meet her prospective employer at High and Mill Streets in Mount Holly. Authorities say he responded to a newspaper ad she posted. She has not been heard from since.

"I got her down to a certain place on Mill and from there on, nothing. Absolutely nothing," said Detective Lt. Leonard Burr, the original investigator on the case for Burlington City Police.

Burr is now 82 and attended Monday's news conference. He recalled the years he spent working the case.

"It's emotional because I knew the girl. It's frustrating because I wanted to find her so bad," said Burr.

Margaret Fox has brown hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a light blue floral shirt, a black and white checkered waist-length jacket, and maroon jeans with a yellow patch on the knee and brown sandals. Police say she was carrying a brown bag and an eye glass case with the Huckleberry Hound design.

Anyone with information should contact Burlington City Police at (609) 386-0262, ext. 211 or the FBI in Newark at (973) 792-3000.