Nyleen Marshall

Nyleen Kay Marshall
Age Progression of Nyleen (age 33)

Real Name: Nyleen Kay Marshall
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Clancy, Montana
Date: June 25, 1983

Bio

Date of Birth: September 18, 1978
Height: 3'2"
Weight: 29 lbs.
Marital Status: Single
Characteristics: Nyleen had a chipped lower baby tooth at the time of her disappearance.

Case

Details: On June 25, 1983, four-year-old Nyleen Marshall vanished while on a trip with her mother and step-father to the Elkhorn Mountains. That day, the Marshalls and several other families traveled to a picnic area in the Helena National Forest. At around 4pm, she and several other children went playing along the banks of a shallow creek. Some of them noticed her talking to an unidentified man in a purple jogging suit. He tried to get her to play the game "follow the shadow". He was the last person to be seen with her before she vanished.
For ten days, searchers combed the area where she was last seen. However, there was no evidence found to determine what happened to her. The Marshalls were certain that she had been abducted, so they distributed thousands of missing persons fliers across the United States.
On November 27, 1985, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an anonymous call from a man who claimed that he had Nyleen. Two months later, an organization called "Child Find of America" received a typewritten letter from the same man. He claimed that he was raising her as his own child and that he now calls her "Kay". He also claimed that he loved her and did not plan on returning her to her family. Although he claimed that he was taking care of her, he also mentioned committing acts that are considered child sexual abuse.
Over the next six months, Child Find of America received two more letters and another two phone calls from the man. They came from Madison, Wisconsin; the FBI was able to trace some of the calls to specific phone booths there and Edgerton. However, once the ones where they came from were found, they subsequently stopped. The letter was also postmarked from the Madison area. The man indicated that he has traveled with Nyleen to several different locations in the United States; this matches the alleged sightings of her throughout the country.
In June 1990, authorities received another lead in the case. Nyleen's uncle saw two composites for a man and woman wanted for child abduction in another part of the country. He believes he saw them on the first day of the search for Nyleen.
To date, no trace of Nyleen or her abductor have been found.

Composites of child abduction suspects
Letter from Nyleen's abductor

Suspects: Nyleen was last seen talking to a man in a purple jogging suit. He has never been identified and is considered a prime suspect in the case.
The unidentified man that has contacted several missing persons agencies is considered a possible suspect. He claims that he lives off of substantial investments and that he and Nyleen travel frequently. He allegedly traveled with her to San Francisco, New York, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Nashville, Chicago, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Great Britain. He has sent letters and made phone calls from Madison and Edgerton, Wisconsin. The man claims that his parents and younger sister were killed in a car accident when the latter was nine.
An unidentified man and woman wanted for a separate child abduction are considered possible suspects. Nyleen's uncle believes that he saw them on the first day of the search for her.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has also indicated that her stepfather was a person of interest in this case.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the November 21, 1990 episode.
Results: Unresolved. After the broadcast, a viewer contacted the telecenter, believing that one of his students was Nyleen. However, when police went to the girl's house, it was discovered that she was actually another missing child, Monica Bonilla. She had been abducted by her father several years earlier. Shortly after the discovery, she was reunited with her mother.
In 1998, investigators looked into the possibility that a nineteen-year-old Oklahoma woman calling herself "Helena" was Nyleen. The woman was taken to an Oklahoma hospital to give birth. She was evasive when hospital staff asked questions about her past. One of the employees later saw a re-airing of the broadcast and suspected that the woman may have been Nyleen. "Helena" remembered little of her childhood and believed that her mother's name was Nyleen. She agreed to have her blood tested and compared to that of Nyleen's parents. It is not known what the results of the tests revealed.
Sadly, Nyleen's disappearance remains a mystery. Her mother, Nancy, was raped and murdered in Mexico in 1995. It is not known if her death is connected to Nyleen's disappearance.
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Nyleen Marshall

Bio

Case

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