22 years later, search for missing USC student continues

The last time 23-year-old Dail Dinwiddie was seen, she was looking for her friends at a bar in Five Points. It was about 1:30 am, September 24, 1992.

Columbia police chief Skip Holbrook said Wednesday the search continues for Dinwiddie, a Columbia native who graduated from Heathwood Hall and Randolph Macon Women’s College. At the time of her disappearance, she was preparing to study art history at USC.

She was last seen by a bouncer of the now-defunct Jungle Jim’s bar around 1:30 a.m. She was wearing blue jeans, a forest-green pullover shirt and white Nikes with a blue stripe.

She had attended a U2 concert on Sept. 23, 1992, at Williams-Brice Stadium and along with hundreds of other fans, descended on the Five Points bar scene to end the night.

The SC Law Enforcement Division released a photograph of what Dail Dinwiddie might look like as a 43-year-old woman two years ago.

“A mama never rests when any of her children is not known to be safe. Today, 20 years after the abduction of my child, I still cannot rest easy because I don’t know where she is. [...] We ask that even if you will not help us solve this crime, would you please let us know how to find Dail,’ her mother Jean Dinwiddie said at the time.

“We continue to search for a resolution to this tragedy. Please continue your thoughts and prayers for Dail,’ the Dinwiddie family said Wednesday.

A $20,000 reward remains in effect with the case, Holbrook said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 8:49 PM with the headline "22 years later, search for missing USC student continues."