Scherer was last seen working her shift at Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own Station self-service gasoline station in Scott City, Missouri on April 17, 1979. That day she was working the 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. shift. She disappeared from the station sometime between 11:40 and 11:50 a.m. Two hours before her shift ended, she called her mother. Her mother later said the conversation was normal and Scherer was in a good mood, talking about plans for cooking dinner and doing some sewing that evening. Twenty minutes later, her cousin drove past the station and thought he saw someone inside, but couldn't tell whether it was Scherer. Five minutes later, another station employee found the station unattended. Scherer's purse and checkbook were at her workplace, and her car was parked in the parking lot with the car keys inside. Approximately $480 was missing from the station's cash register. Authorities believe that Scherer was abducted by person(s) unknown after a robbery. She would be 65-years-old.