Missing: Elizabeth Gill, 62
Missing from: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Last seen: Jun/13/1965
Created: October 5, 2024 9:21 am
Updated: October 5, 2024 9:21 am
MPIA ID: 3154
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Cape Girardeau Police Dept. 573-335-6621
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Case Information
Elizabeth was last seen in the front yard of her family home in the 300 block of South Lorimer Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri at 4:00 p.m. on June 13, 1965. 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. 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 would never locate, are the prime suspects in her disappearance. Authorities would like to identify two couples who were staying in the motel behind the Gill house before Elizabeth disappeared. One man is described as 60 to 65 years of age and a "natty dresser." He drove a black and white 1965 Ford Thunderbird with three different sets of license plates: an Alabama plate numbered 38-19438, a Virginia plate numbered A25-1356, and a possible Florida plate. The man's companion was a Caucasian female over 60 years old, with white hair, 5'1 and 150 pounds. The second woman was younger and is believed to have been the daughter of the older woman, and is described as 5'2 with red hair. Her husband was also Caucasian, 6'1 tall with a slender build. These individuals are probably no longer alive, but police hope their acquaintances or relatives might recognize them.