Elizabeth Gill 2 yrs old missing since 1965, Missouri

[SuzieQ]

age progression to age 44

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gill_elizabeth.html

Missing since: June 13, 1965 from Cape Girardeau, Missouri

[SuzieQ]

By Erin Hevern ~ Southeast Missourian

Images of a 2-year-old Elizabeth Ann Gill and the story behind her disappearance in 1965 may soon be seen by viewers of two of the most watched news programs in the country.

Camera crews from "The Today Show," airing on NBC weekday mornings, and "Inside Edition," a syndicated 30-minute news program, have been in Cape Girardeau this week shooting interviews with Gill's mother, siblings and local law enforcement.

Martha Hamilton, who was 15 at the time of her sister's disappearance, said Thursday she wasn't sure when the programs would air their segments on Gill's abduction but was optimistic both would be televised.

"The national exposure is needed in order for us to be in a place where Beth can find us. That's the only reason that we ever started allowing media attention," Hamilton said.

Gill was last seen playing with some of her brothers and sisters June 13, 1965, in the yard of her home on Lorimier Street. Until late August, Gill's disappearance was viewed as a missing persons case. The FBI recently reclassified the case as a kidnapping and is investigating what may have happened to Gill.

"Since the FBI has reclassified the case, I'm excited about that. Of course they're going to offer us assistance we normally wouldn't have as a local agency," said Cape Girardeau Police Department Detective Jim Smith.

With media outlets around the state reporting on the case and two summer events honoring Gill, Hamilton said two women have contacted law enforcement thinking they may be Gill, who would be 48 years old this year.

National exposure via the two television shows can only help the case, Smith said.

"The more we can get it out there, the more likely -- if Elizabeth is living, and we have reason to believe she is -- she'll see it and contact the FBI or a local agency," he said.

The women who have come forward are from California and Florida, according to Smith.

In 2006, after family members' DNA was also put in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, database, four other women came forward, thinking they could be Gill. But their DNA didn't match. The database allows law enforcement crime labs to compare DNA profiles electronically.

"After this length of time and the fact there has been four women in the past compared with the DNA, we don't get overly excited about that information. Especially when we know they go through law enforcement who will check them out and see if there is any validity or possibility in their story," Hamilton said.

"But if those women are not Elizabeth Gill, they could very well be someone else's missing child," Hamilton added.

ehevern@semissourian.com
388-3635
Pertinent Address:
Lorimier Street, Cape Girardeau, MO
Read more at www.semissourian.com

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1661624.html

[Sister]

By Erin Hevern ~ Southeast Missourian

Images of a 2-year-old Elizabeth Ann Gill and the story behind her disappearance in 1965 may soon be seen by viewers of two of the most watched news programs in the country.

Camera crews from "The Today Show," airing on NBC weekday mornings, and "Inside Edition," a syndicated 30-minute news program, have been in Cape Girardeau this week shooting interviews with Gill's mother, siblings and local law enforcement.

Martha Hamilton, who was 15 at the time of her sister's disappearance, said Thursday she wasn't sure when the programs would air their segments on Gill's abduction but was optimistic both would be televised.

"The national exposure is needed in order for us to be in a place where Beth can find us. That's the only reason that we ever started allowing media attention," Hamilton said.

Gill was last seen playing with some of her brothers and sisters June 13, 1965, in the yard of her home on Lorimier Street. Until late August, Gill's disappearance was viewed as a missing persons case. The FBI recently reclassified the case as a kidnapping and is investigating what may have happened to Gill.

"Since the FBI has reclassified the case, I'm excited about that. Of course they're going to offer us assistance we normally wouldn't have as a local agency," said Cape Girardeau Police Department Detective Jim Smith.

With media outlets around the state reporting on the case and two summer events honoring Gill, Hamilton said two women have contacted law enforcement thinking they may be Gill, who would be 48 years old this year.

National exposure via the two television shows can only help the case, Smith said.

"The more we can get it out there, the more likely -- if Elizabeth is living, and we have reason to believe she is -- she'll see it and contact the FBI or a local agency," he said.

The women who have come forward are from California and Florida, according to Smith.

In 2006, after family members' DNA was also put in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, database, four other women came forward, thinking they could be Gill. But their DNA didn't match. The database allows law enforcement crime labs to compare DNA profiles electronically.

"After this length of time and the fact there has been four women in the past compared with the DNA, we don't get overly excited about that information. Especially when we know they go through law enforcement who will check them out and see if there is any validity or possibility in their story," Hamilton said.

"But if those women are not Elizabeth Gill, they could very well be someone else's missing child," Hamilton added.

ehevern@semissourian.com
388-3635
Pertinent Address:
Lorimier Street, Cape Girardeau, MO
Read more at www.semissourian.com

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1661624.html

Aside from kooks, isn't it amazing and yet sad there are those who don't know who their mothers really are?

[4 Donks]

By Erin Hevern ~ Southeast Missourian

Images of a 2-year-old Elizabeth Ann Gill and the story behind her disappearance in 1965 may soon be seen by viewers of two of the most watched news programs in the country.

Camera crews from "The Today Show," airing on NBC weekday mornings, and "Inside Edition," a syndicated 30-minute news program, have been in Cape Girardeau this week shooting interviews with Gill's mother, siblings and local law enforcement.

Martha Hamilton, who was 15 at the time of her sister's disappearance, said Thursday she wasn't sure when the programs would air their segments on Gill's abduction but was optimistic both would be televised.

"The national exposure is needed in order for us to be in a place where Beth can find us. That's the only reason that we ever started allowing media attention," Hamilton said.

Gill was last seen playing with some of her brothers and sisters June 13, 1965, in the yard of her home on Lorimier Street. Until late August, Gill's disappearance was viewed as a missing persons case. The FBI recently reclassified the case as a kidnapping and is investigating what may have happened to Gill.

"Since the FBI has reclassified the case, I'm excited about that. Of course they're going to offer us assistance we normally wouldn't have as a local agency," said Cape Girardeau Police Department Detective Jim Smith.

With media outlets around the state reporting on the case and two summer events honoring Gill, Hamilton said two women have contacted law enforcement thinking they may be Gill, who would be 48 years old this year.

National exposure via the two television shows can only help the case, Smith said.

"The more we can get it out there, the more likely -- if Elizabeth is living, and we have reason to believe she is -- she'll see it and contact the FBI or a local agency," he said.

The women who have come forward are from California and Florida, according to Smith.

In 2006, after family members' DNA was also put in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, database, four other women came forward, thinking they could be Gill. But their DNA didn't match. The database allows law enforcement crime labs to compare DNA profiles electronically.

"After this length of time and the fact there has been four women in the past compared with the DNA, we don't get overly excited about that information. Especially when we know they go through law enforcement who will check them out and see if there is any validity or possibility in their story," Hamilton said.

"But if those women are not Elizabeth Gill, they could very well be someone else's missing child," Hamilton added.

ehevern@semissourian.com
388-3635
Pertinent Address:
Lorimier Street, Cape Girardeau, MO
Read more at www.semissourian.com

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1661624.html

Aside from kooks, isn't it amazing and yet sad there are those who don't know who their mothers really are?

I would imagine they were adopted and are looking for their birth mothers.

[SuzieQ]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_1b68ea6a-290b-55e2-bb8d-753738c395d8.html

FBI joins hunt for Cape Girardeau girl missing since 1965

Forty-five years after a toddler disappeared from outside her home in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the FBI has declared the case a kidnapping and joined the decades-old hunt for her.

Rebecca Wu, spokeswoman for the FBI's office in St. Louis, said Thursday it does not necessarily mean there is new evidence in the case of Elizabeth Ann Gill.

But Cape Girardeau police Detective Jim Smith said there is a possible break. Some transients staying in a motel and selling purses close to the family home "were considered persons of interest" at the outset, he said. "They were never located. Now we think we have located some members of that family."

Smith said they are out of the state, prompting a request for FBI assistance.

Elizabeth's sister, Martha Gill-Hamilton, who still lives in Cape Girardeau, said police at the time had a description of two vehicles with two couples in them and a license plate number, but no good way to track them.

"We hope to have answers soon," said Gill-Hamilton, a real estate agent who is married and has two children of her own.

She said that over time, four women have come forward for DNA testing in the case because they did not know how they came to live with the people who raised them. "So far none have matched," she said. "Unfortunately, there is no database for those people to use at all."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has obtained DNA from Elizabeth's family to help with an identification.

Authorities do not know whether Elizabeth — last seen at age 2 — is alive and, if so, whether she realizes she was abducted. "We have every reason to believe she could still be alive," Smith said.

Roger Graham of St. Louis, a family friend, said he has faith Elizabeth survives, and added, "I believe this is much bigger than Beth Gill. There are other missing kids about that same time frame. I think human trafficking was much bigger back then than people suspect."

Wu, of the FBI, said the case reclassification reflects a change in the agency's thinking over the years. Now, disappearance of a "child of tender age" is presumed to be an abduction unless shown otherwise. "If a child were truly abducted, time is critical," she said. In 1965, the FBI would not intervene without clear evidence of a kidnapping.

Smith noted that investigators of the 1960s "didn't have all the resources that we have today to locate folks. They did their best. If they (the people at the motel) were ever interviewed, it's not documented in anything that I've read. I have every reason to believe they were never located."

He said officials are trying to attract the interest of the "America's Most Wanted" TV program. "If we can get it shown nationwide, and if she is out there wanting to find out who she is, maybe that will give her the courage to come forward," he said.

Elizabeth was last seen carrying a pail of sand, playing in her front yard in the 300 block of South Lorimer Street about 4 p.m. on June 13, 1965. Searches at the time failed to turn up clues.

The city of about 70,000 people about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis has continued to remember the girl it could not find. The city council declared last Saturday as Elizabeth Ann Gill Day, and scores of people turned out to commemorate what they hoped was her 48th birthday.

She was the youngest of 10 children of Anola and Henry Gill, living in a home that had been in her family since the 1860s.

Gill-Hamilton was 15 and not at home when the sister she knew as Beth disappeared. She remembers Beth as a sweet child with a great personality and wonderful smile. "All of the kids doted on her," Gill-Hamilton said. "We realized she would be the last of the children born."

The girls' father and two siblings have died. Gill-Hamilton said she is hopeful for the answer they never got.

"If it's meant to happen," she said, "God will bring her home."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[SuzieQ]

[Nut44x4]

This person was ruled out as Beth Gill

http://canyouidentifyme.blogspot.com/search/label/1960%27s