Elizabeth Gill was only 2 ½ years old when she vanished from her family’s home, in the area of the 300 block of south Larimer Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The little blonde haired toddler had been playing in the front yard with a sand pail on June 13, 1965, at approximately 4PM. Decades later, the family has never given up the faith that they will find her alive.The family has long believed a group of drifters that had been staying at a hotel in the area of Elizabeth’s residence may have kidnapped her. A witness reported seeing the individuals on two different occasions try to lure Elizabeth into their vehicle. The drifters had been selling purses close to the house, and early on in the investigation considered persons of interest, but could never be located.
Detective Jim Smith reopened the cold case in 2003. Smith told the Associated Press, “What do they think about every night, every holiday, every birthday? Their family has never been complete. They are always going to wonder what happened to Elizabeth. If I could give them an answer, it would be one of the greatest things that’s has ever happened to me as a law enforcement officer.”
Recently, the family hired a private detective who visited with Smith and Elizabeth’s sister, Martha Gill-Hamilton. Mike Neverett, a Florida private investigator, and Smith believe it may only be a matter of time before they solve this mystery. Neverett traveled to Missouri this April to meet with Elizabeth’s family and the detective to research the case.
Taking an interesting approach, Neverett, who has been involved in the case for over seven years, recently visited the old Gill home on Lorimar Street and began taking pictures of what he describes as “pictures through the eyes of a child.” Clicking pictures of surrounding homes and the neighborhood from the height Elizabeth would have been at time of her disappearance. He hopes this may jar the memory of a woman who would now be 49 years old, and the youngest of ten children. Elizabeth’s father passed away in 1970 never knowing what happened to the youngest apple of his eye, but Elizabeth’s mother and remaining siblings have never given up hope of being reunited.
Having worked alongside law enforcement for nearly two decades with many cold cases, I agree this case had all the potential elements of a solvable case. With increased national news exposure, law enforcement and private investigators working cooperatively, and especially utilizing the power of social media, there is a good potential of bringing Elizabeth home to her family. The pictures could be the key to jogging the memory of a woman who has never truly known who she is.
Even I have memories of standing in my crib calling out to my mother because I had an earache. I could not have been more than a year and a half old. The mind stores everything and things decades old like a smell, a sound, and yes, even a picture can take us back. We also know in every case of a suspicious disappearance of a child or adult, someone out there knows something.
We can all take a part in reuniting Elizabeth with her family by sharing her information. Let us all unite as a real social community and bring Elizabeth home!
For additional information, please visit www.missingkids.com. If you have information or believe you may be Elizabeth Gill, please call Det. Jim Smith at the Cape Girardeau (MO) Police Department at 573-335-6621, ext. 1120.
Author – Kym L. Pasqualini
Founder, National Center for Missing Adults
& Social Network Advocate
Missing Persons Advocacy Network
Hours before his wife would call police to report her husband and son missing, Chandler lawyer Conrad Hernandez told a Yavapai County dispatcher Friday he had run off Interstate 17 in the mountains north of Phoenix.
He said during the 911 call that he was severely injured, according to a Chandler police report. He told the dispatcher he couldn’t move and was stranded with his 7-year-old son, Max, outside his wrecked Mazda 3, five miles south of the Sunset Point Rest Area.
But help did not come until Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday, Chandler Officer Michael Sippitka was investigating the disappearance of the father and son when he heard about the 911 call. He alerted the state Department of Public Safety and asked it to dispatch a helicopter to search for Hernandez. The agency initially said it couldn’t because its Flagstaff helicopters were out of service, but later sent a helicopter out of Kingman, Sippitka’s report said.
At 4:55 p.m. Sunday, the lifeless bodies of Hernandez and his son were found outside their vehicle at the bottom of a 200-foot ravine near Black Canyon City. The police report said the vehicle had flipped over several times, throwing both of them from the car.
DPS officials declined to comment on the account in the Chandler police report, saying only that the two bodies had been removed from the ravine and taken to the Yavapai County medical examiner. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it received the 911 call Friday afternoon, but referred other questions to DPS.
Chandler police also said they verified the 911 call through Hernandez’s cellphone records. Several people called Hernandez after the crash, but, based on the cellphone records, it wasn’t clear if he answered any of the calls or if his voicemail picked them up.
DPS also declined Monday to answer other questions about the case. It’s not clear whether the agency had attempted to locate the red Mazda 3 on Friday, and it is also unclear when Hernandez and his son died.
But those aren’t the only mysteries in the case.
No one is certain where the father and son were headed on a Friday afternoon when Max was supposed to be in school and his father was scheduled to be in a meeting with his wife and another lawyer to go over documents related to the IRS.
Hernandez’s wife, Karen Maile Hernandez, said her husband never appeared for the 10 a.m. meeting. When she called Chrysalis Academy, a school for autistic children that Max attended, teachers there said her husband had called in that morning to say Max was sick.
Karen filed a missing persons report with Chandler police shortly before 4 p.m. Friday. She didn’t know her husband had called 911 three hours earlier.
Karen initially told police she didn’t think her husband would hurt Max, and that although he had seemed depressed recently about financial problems, there was no talk of suicide.
But two family friends told officers that Conrad had talked about how much better Karen would be without him and that he had thoughts of suicide. One friend said he asked to borrow $1,700 and expressed concern over financial difficulties.
Karen told police he had concocted an elaborate suicide plan two years earlier, when he planned to jump off a second-story balcony at St. James Theatre in New York City. He was found in New York unharmed.
When Conrad went missing Friday, friends and family began calling hotels in the Grand Canyon, a regular sanctuary for him. They sent out pleas on Facebook and MySpace. Police began working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Then, late Sunday afternoon, a DPS worker told the Chandler officer that the red Mazda had been found.
The Chrysalis Academy in Tempe canceled classes Monday so that parents and staff members could have time to grieve and talk to their children about Max’s death.
“You have to understand that these kids with autism or any special needs have to be handled differently,” said De Freedman, president of the Chrysalis Academy Parents Association.
“Max was an amazing kid,” said Freedman, who had known the boy for the past three years. “He was beloved. He had an infectious smile and a sparkling personality.”
The school and parents’ group planned a candlelight vigil Monday night for Max. Source
BERKELEY — After the family of a teenager who has been missing for the past 14 years contacted Berkeley police, detectives are calling on the community for solid leads they hope will allow them to investigate further.
Patrick McColl
Patrick McColl, missing for 14 years, in a computer rendering showing how he could look today.
On Aug. 28, 1995, Berkeley High School student Peter John McColl, then 16, disappeared after telling his brother he was going to a bookstore on Telegraph Avenue. He last was seen about 10:30 a.m. that day by family members at their home in the 700 block of The Alameda in North Berkeley, police said.
McColl declined an invitation to have breakfast with his mother and instead told his brother he was headed to the bookstore. At 11:39 p.m. Aug. 28, when McColl had not come home or contacted his parents, the family called Berkeley police and reported him missing.
At the time of McColl’s disappearance, he was going to enter his junior year at Berkeley High and had been a member of the school’s crew team. McColl was described by family members as “a loving, quiet young man who shared a passion for music and playing the guitar,” police said.
At the time of his disappearance, McColl was nearsighted and wore glasses. He would be 30 now, but the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children only has a picture enhanced to age 22, police said.
McColl’s father, John McColl, has a message for his son: “Peter, if you are out there, we still love you. Please come home. Our hearts ache for you.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Berkeley police homicide unit, which routinely handles missing person cases, at 510-981-5741 or the department’s nonemergency line at 510-981-5900. Callers can remain anonymous by calling Bay Area Crime Stoppers tip line at 800-222-8477 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.
