Girl's Life Is 'Buttered Topping': NJ Cold Case Audio Released

The FBI has released disturbing audio from the hours following the disappearance of a Burlington County girl in an attempt to solve a 45-year-old missing persons case. A $25,000 reward has also been announced in the case.

“Ten thousand dollars might be a lot of bread, but your daughter’s life is the buttered topping,” a man is heard saying on a 6-second audio recording released by the FBI on the anniversary of Margaret Ellen Fox’s disappearance.

Fox was 14 when she got on a bus from Burlington City to Mount Holly for a babysitting job on June 24, 1974, according to the FBI Newark Office. She has not been seen or heard from since, and the FBI is now offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of whoever is responsible for her disappearance.

The audio released this week that can be heard on the FBI’s website was recorded in the hours after she vanished. Phone calls were being recorded at her home that night. A man claiming to have her calls and demands a ransom for her return.

There was no indication as to where to send any ransom money, so no ransom was ever paid, according to a spokesperson for the FBI.

She had left her home at 8:40 a.m. for the job working for someone who answered a newspaper advertisement, according to the FBI. The prospective employer told her he would pick her up at the corner of Mill and High streets in Mount Holly, and witnesses reported seeing someone matching her description get off the bus in that location.

The phone call from the prospective employer was traced to a phone booth at a supermarket in Lumberton, according to authorities.

“The FBI has a long memory,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Joseph Denahan said. “The community we serve has our solemn promise that we will pursue all viable options in the interest of delivering justice. We realize that in missing persons cases, especially those involving children, there is a loved one or family at the other end enduring heartache every day because there is no conclusion. We hope this renewed effort will produce results that might give Margaret Fox’s family some sense of closure.”

Fox has brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a light blue, long-sleeved, floral-patterned blouse that was squared at the top and flared at the waist; a black and white or blue and white checkered waist-length jacket; maroon flared jeans with a yellow patch on one knee; brown sandals with a heel strap; a gold necklace with flowers and a blue stone on it; and a gold charm bracelet with a round blue stone.

She was carrying a brown bag and an eyeglass case with the Huckleberry Hound design. An image from when she was a child is attached to this post.

The FBI’s forensic lab in Quantico, Virginia, created an age-progressed photo of Fox that is in circulation on posters seeking information. That photo can be seen below.

“The disappearance of Margaret Fox has haunted this community for decades,” Burlington City Police Chief John Fine said. “As many local residents and police officers would tell you, they would hear the message every week at the end of church services to pray for a safe return of Margaret Fox. As chief of Police, I want to bring closure to this case and bring home an answer to the Fox family and community.”

“Margaret Fox was loved dearly by her family and friends,” Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. “To this day, her disappearance continues to cause great sorrow. If someone out there possesses information that could assist the investigators working to solve this mystery, I urge you to come forward.”

Anyone with information as to her whereabouts after June 24, 1974, is asked to call the FBI Newark Field Office at 973-792-3000 or Burlington City Police Department at 609-386-0262, ext. 211.