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in: New Mexico, 1986, Disappearances,
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Anthonette Cayedito

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Real Name: Anthonette Christine Cayedito
Nicknames: Squirrel
Location: Gallup, New Mexico
Date: April 6, 1986

Bio

Occupation: Student
Date of Birth: December 25, 1976
Height: 4'7"
Weight: 55 pounds
Marital Status: Single
Characteristics: Mixed race (of Italian and Navajo descent) female with brown hair and brown eyes. She has moles on her right cheek, nose, ankle, and back. She has scars on her knee and lip. She has pierced ears.

Case

Details: Nine-year-old Anthonette Cayedito disappeared on April 6, 1986. When her mother, Penny, and two sisters awoke that morning, they were surprised to discover that she was not in the house. They went looking for her all around the house and found nothing. Penny started to panic after checking with every single person in the neighborhood and nobody saw her. The police and her neighbors searched around the surrounding foothills and found no trace of her. Authorities were almost certain she was kidnapped at the middle of the night. Police were capable of offering little to bolster her parents' hope of her being found alive.
In 1987, a year after Anthonette's disappearance, a dramatic call for help came into the Gallup Police Station. A feminine voice on the phone claimed to be her, stating that she was in Albuquerque. Before she could tell the dispatcher exactly where she was, an unidentified male told her, "Who said you could use the phone?". She screamed and the call ended.
When the police played a recording of the call to Penny, she was certain that the voice was Anthonette's. She said she was especially certain based on the way the girl said her name. However, she did not recognize the man's voice. Some have speculated the call to be a hoax as the girl claimed she was in Alberquerque, yet the phone call went to the Gallup Police department The police tried to trace the call but were unsuccessful. It gave Anthonette's family hope that she may still be alive.
In 1991, five years after Anthonette's disappearance, after age-progressed photographs of her were released, a waitress came forward, believing that she saw her at her restaurant. She recalled serving a table with a man, woman, and girl around the age of fourteen or fifteen. She noted that they had rather unkempt appearances, possibly from struggling with her.
The girl apparently dropped her utensils on the floor intentionally, and when the waitress would try to pick them up for her, she grabbed her hand. However, she thought nothing of it and went about her business. The man, woman, and girl left the restaurant. As the waitress cleared the table, she noticed a napkin under the girl's plate with the message, "Please help me, call the police."
This sighting also brought some hope to Anthonette's family. One month later, investigators decided to reinterview witnesses involved in this case. They spoke to her sister, Wendy, who was five at the time. Now ten, she told investigators that she had actually witnessed Anthonette's abduction.
Wendy said that at around 3am, there was a knock at the door. When Anthonette went to answer it, the person said that it was "Uncle Joe". Two men then grabbed her. When asked why she hadn't come forward sooner, Wendy said that she was scared and afraid that she would get in trouble.
Investigators cleared "Uncle Joe" who was married to Penny's sister at the time. This, however, leads them to believe that the abductors knew Anthonette's family.
In 1992, Penny went to a Navajo medicine woman, in hopes of learning more about Anthonette's whereabouts. She did a special ceremony that is done in hopes of contacting the spirit of a missing person. According to her, Anthonette is still alive and may have a child. She is being held against her will, somewhere in the Southwest United States.
Investigators and Anthonette's family are still searching for her and hope that she is still alive.
Suspects: Anthonette's abductors are believed to be two adult males, based on what Wendy witnessed. They may know her family, as they claimed that they were her "Uncle Joe". However, the couple with the girl resembling her witnessed by the waitress were a man and woman, who were described as rather unkempt thus started the theory that she was sold into human trafficking (possibly by Penny).
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the December 16, 1992 episode.
Results: Unsolved. Investigators now believe that due to the passage of time, Anthonette is deceased.
Penny eventually passed away on April 18, 1999. Before her death, the police had wanted to question her again about Anthonette's disappearance, but her death complicated their investigation. Police now believe she knew more about Anthonette's abduction than she had told as she had failed a polygraph test and reportedly made expensive purchases following her disappearance. There were also allegations that she was involved in selling drugs; this has not been confirmed. If Anthonette Cayedito is still alive, would be in her forties. Sadly, Anthonette's father, Anthony, passed away in 2012.
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