01/18/2026
True Crime Story Unsolved Disappearance of Amy Billig from Coconut Grove, Florida.
Amy Billig was a 17-year-old woman from Coconut Grove, Florida. On March 5th, 1974, Amy would leave her home to walk a mile to her father’s art gallery and never be seen again. While Amy’s family and the police were desperately seeking answers, they would only receive false leads and information which would not only cloud the investigation, but lead to several arrests along the way, none of which helped solve the mystery of her disappearance.
Coconut Grove is a small community in the South part of Miami. In the 1970s, it was described as a vibrant, bohemian enclave known for its free-spirted artists, musicians, and laid-back vibe. Amy’s father owned an art gallery in Coconut Grove and on the day of her disappearance, it was reported that Amy would leave her high school during a lunch break and return home. She would ask her father to borrow some money so she could go out with friends later that day. She would leave their home and start walking to her father's art gallery, which was in Commodore Plaza, approximately one mile away, but she would never arrive.
A few days after her disappearance, two sixteen-year-old siblings, Charles and Larry Glasser, would make claims to Amy’s family that they had kidnapped Amy, and they were demanding a $30,000 ransom be paid for her return. The police would quickly determine this was a lie, and the brothers would be arrested for extortion. This incident would unfortunately only be the beginning of a long list of fraudulent claims which not only brought more heartache to the family but would distract the police from following real leads.
The next lead the police would receive was Amy’s camera being found at the Wildwood exit off the Florida turnpike. Wildwood Florida is a small city in Sumter County, which is approximately 280 miles North of Coconut Grove. This was the 1970s, so the camera they would have found was nothing like cameras today. This was more than likely a 35mm camera which would have contained film that required developing. According to news reports, the majority of the film in the camera was overexposed and the few pictures they were able to develop did not lead to any information as to her whereabouts.
Approximately twelve days after Amy’s disappearance, her mother would start receiving information that Amy was kidnapped by a group of outlaw bikers. Before moving on, I found news articles which mention two completely separate groups of supposed outlaw bikers being involved in this case. One news article mentions the group the “Outlaws”, while another article mentions the “Pagans”, which are two completely separate groups of bikers. I cannot confirm any connection between the Outlaws and the Pagans, especially in the 1970s, but I do believe these two separate groups of bikers were more than likely not friendly back in those days.
The claims made to Amy’s family about the bikers were that Amy was kidnapped and taken cross-country by the group. A possible lawyer who had represented members of the Outlaws motorcycle club in the past, set up a meeting with Amy’s parents and a few members of the Outlaws club. During this meeting, it was reported that these bikers never actually saw Amy, nor could they confirm if the Outlaws were even involved with her disappearance. They would only say that it seems the bikers have done this kind of behavior before, but they would ask around about Amy in an attempt to help the family.
A few months would go by with no developments. Amy’s mother would travel to the Orlando area, which is approximately 160 miles North of Coconut Grove. It was reported that she would locate some Outlaw members and she would talk to a convenience store clerk, who would say he remembered seeing Amy being escorted by a few bikers. Apparently, this store clerk would mention the woman purchased vegetable soup from the store, which would be important to Amy’s mother, because Amy was allegedly a vegetarian. While her mother may have obtained some information in Orlando, it was reported that nothing helpful would come from that information.
A year and half would pass since her disappearance, and Amy’s family would receive a new lead. I need to clarify that I found conflicting information regarding the next individual. One news article would say he was a member of the Outlaws, while another mentioned he was a member of the Pagans.
On January 9th, 1976, a member of the Outlaws named Paul Branch, would contact the family after seeing a picture of Amy in the newspaper. Paul Branch would claim that he “owned” Amy at one point, but she has since moved on. Paul would help the family track down her current whereabouts, and he would report that she was now in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Apparently, Amy’s mother would join Paul Branch in Tulsa Oklahoma with the intention that Amy would be “released” to her at a bar. While waiting at a bar in Tulsa, a fight would break out, and Paul was allegedly injured in this fight, and members of the biker group would quickly shuffle Amy’s mother into a taxi and send her on her way. Amy’s mother would never see Paul Branch again.
A new lead would come in reporting that Amy was seen in Seattle. In 1977, Amy’s mother would travel to Seattle and while some people would say they recognized her from a picture, nothing helpful would come from her travels to Seattle.
In 1979, almost two years after her disappearance, an anonymous caller would report that Amy was at a truck stop in a rural part of Nevada outside of Reno. While the FBI was reported to have confirmed that members of an unmentioned biker group were in Reno at that time, there was no confirmation that Amy was with them or any confirmed sightings of her in Reno.
In 1992, Amy’s mother was contacted by a private investigator named Viginia Synder in Falmouth, England. According to this private investigator, an American “biker” approached him in a post office and attempted to sell an American woman to him. There was no picture shown, but the description the biker gave to the investigator matched Amy. It was reported that Amy’s mother possibly traveled to England to search for Amy, but nothing helpful would come from that. That private investigator would pass away shortly after making that claim.
Possible Suspect
During the course of the investigation and while Amy’s family were traveling around the country chasing leads which would not pan out, they were reportedly receiving threatening and harassing phone calls from a male subject the entire time. These phone calls went on for a twenty-year period. The subject making these phone calls was alleging that Amy was being held captive by members of s*x ring. During that twenty-year period, the subject was using pay phones to make these calls.
In 1995, when people were starting to use cell phones for the first time, this subject would make a call to the family using his new cell phone, which would lead investigators straight to him.
This individual would be identified as Henry Johnson Blair. Henry Blair was working for the U.S. Customs Department during the time he was making these harassing phone calls to the family. Henry Blair would be arrested, charged and convicted of harassment and spend two years incarcerated. He would later lose a civil suit brought against him by the family and he would be sentenced to pay the family five million dollars.
While Henry would claim that he never knew Amy and his intention of harassing her family was only due to his alcoholism, it was reported that a photo found taken by Amy at some point in 1974 showed a white van in the picture. The white van was identical to the van Henry Blair was driving in 1974. In one of Amy’s journals, she wrote about a man named “Hank” who was offering to take her to South America. During that same time period, Henry Blair’s job at the US Customs Department was getting ready to send him to Argentina. It was reported that Henry Blair’s nickname was Hank. I found an article that mentioned that Henry Blair passed away in 2006, but I have not confirmed that.
In 1997, the same Paul Branch who allegedly tried to help Amy’s family in 1976 would make a death bed confession from his home in Charlottesville Virginia, saying he knew what really happened to Amy. In this confession, he would say that Amy was kidnapped by members of a biker group, drugged and assaulted by the group and her body was tossed into the Everglades.
At first, Amy’s family would believe the story, but it would later be called into question when the person who brought forth the death bed story was Paul Branch’s widow, who has been accused of making the entire story up for publicity and profit, as she was paid for an interview of that death bed story during a documentary of this case.
In a news article from the Tampa Bay Times in 1998, the lead detective, Jack Calvar with Miami Police, would make the statement that he knows what really happened to Amy. He would say that members of the Pagans motorcycle club kidnapped her, and after a party in the everglades she was murdered and he does not expect to ever find her body.
That news article is what conflicts with previous reports that the group involved with the disappearance were believed to be the Outlaws.
In this same article, it would seem that Jack Calvar only interviewed Paul Branch’s wife for those details, who has since be accused of making the story up for profit. The article also mentioned Paul Branch’s wife directing the detective to interview another man who was incarcerated for an unrelated murder. That individual was reported to have provided “unconvincing details.”
As of today, there does not seem to be any updates or strong leads as to what actually happened in the disappearance of Amy Billig. Unfortunately, like in many of these cases, false accusations are made, people come along who try to extort victims during a time of grief and as years go by interest shifts to new cases.
Amy was the daughter of Susan and Ned Billig. Ned passed away in 1992 from lung cancer and Susan passed away in 2005 at the age of eighty.
