Marlena was last seen playing in the front yard of her family's residence in Union City, Tennessee at approximately 3:00 p.m. on April 16, 1987. Her mother, Pamela Lynn Bailey, stated she heard car brakes and when she went to check on Marlena, the child was gone. The vehicle is described as an older model two-door red car. Bailey said she didn't get a good look at the driver, but Marlena's seven-year-old stepbrother and the owner of a store two blocks away both told police they'd seen Marlena talking to him shortly before she vanished. Their descriptions of the car matched what Bailey said she'd seen, but no one recognized the driver. It reportedly had McCracken County, Kentucky license plates. Marlena has never been heard from again.