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50 Years Since Disappearance of Horse-Mad Teen, Siblings Still Seek Answers
Jan Cotta went missing in 1973 and the circumstances remain a mystery.
As the five-decade anniversary of the disappearance of a New Jersey teenager slips by, her family members are still hoping they will one day receive the information they so desperately seek concerning her whereabouts.
An idyllic life
Jan Cotta was 19 and one of eight children born to parents Andrew and Dorothy, who lived on a horse farm in Wall Township, New Jersey in 1973.
The young woman lived and breathed the equestrian life, winning awards for her riding and attending classes at the Princeton Riding Academy, as well as being an active member of the 4-H Club.
Her brother Jay told NBC’s Dateline their childhood was idyllic, particularly for Jan.
“It was the purest you could get. It was all horse farms — farm living kind of things. She was a big horse person. She rode a lot. She was in a lot of horse shows,” he added.
But that summer, something was about to happen that would steal away this bucolic innocence and tear the family apart forever.
