Missing From: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Missing: June 13, 1965
Age at Disappearance: 2
Height: 2′ 6″
Weight: 22
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian female. Elizabeth’s nicknames are Beth and Betsy. She has a chicken pox scar on her arm; it was the size of a quarter at the time of her disappearance but may have shrunk since then.
Details of Disappearance: Elizabeth was last seen in the front yard of her home in the 300 block of south Lorimer Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri at 4:00 p.m. on June 13, 1965. She was carrying a small pail of sand at the time of her disappearance. She has never been heard from again.
An extensive search of the area turned up no sign of her. Authorities at first believed she wandered away from home and fell into the Mississippi River a few blocks away, but this theory has since been discounted because Elizabeth would have had to cross streets and railroad tracks and then go down a bluff to reach the water’s edge.
The day after her disappearance, police got a tip from a local auto dealer about a couple who had been staying in a motel behind the Gill home. The couple had been waiting for a part for their pickup truck, a light tan 1965 Chevrolet, to come in so the vehicle could be repaired. The dealer told them it wasn’t expected until June 14, and they said that was fine because they planned on staying in town for another week. But when the part arrived on June 14, the dealer learned the couple had checked out of the motel early and disappeared, leaving their disabled car behind.
Police looked into the couple and learned they had been using alias names and switching the license plates on their vehicles. They had been in Cape Girardeau for some time and were selling purses door-to-door in the neighborhood. Multiple witnesses, including one of Elizabeth’s sisters, reported seeing the woman from the motel talking to Elizabeth, trying to get her to come to her car. Another witness reported seeing the couple from the motel buying clothes for a child who was with them, crying for her mother.
In 2010, forty-five years after Elizabeth’s disappearance, authorities stated they were investigating her case as a non-family abduction. The couple selling purses, whom the police were never locate, are the prime suspects in her disappearance.
Investigative Agency: Cape Girardeau Police Department 573-335-6621
If you have any information on this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.