Belinda was last seen at Little Eagle Lake in Wright County, Minnesota at 8:00 p.m. on June 15, 1974. She was house-sitting for a neighbor for the weekend, and planned to attend her sister's graduation party. Belinda's family called the house several times that day, but the lines were always down. The following day, they reported her missing.

Timothy Joseph Crosby is a suspect in Belinda's disappearance and in the murdered of another woman, who disappeared in 1994 and was found strangled some months later. Crosby lived alone in a cabin just 100 yards from the house Belinda was staying in when she disappeared. The day before she went missing, Belinda came to his home looking for his sister, but he told her she wasn't at home. Late in 1974, Crosby was arrested for the kidnapping and rape of an eighteen-year-old woman. He has been arrested other times for sexual offenses since then. He has not been charged in Belinda's disappearance, however.

Belinda is described as a popular, ordinary teenager who enjoyed gardening. Investigators don't believe she ran away. Foul play is suspected in her case.