Tricia left her family's Uptown apartment in Chicago, Illinois after school on May 7, 1982, and went to play with friends in the street. She was playing with puppies on a neighbor's porch and then was sighted getting into a car with one or two men near the corner of Leland and Malden. Witnesses described the vehicle as a blue four-door 1979 Dodge or Pontiac car, with a damaged front passenger door and a license plate beginning with the letters "Q" and "R.". Tricia had a space between her upper front teeth at the time of her disappearance. She has previously broken her left wrist and fractured her skull.