Anthonette Christine Cayedito was 9 years old when she disappeared from her home in Gallup. That was nearly 37 years ago. Since then, Anthonette's mother, Penny, has died without knowing what happened to her daughter. Leads have been checked and followed, Navajo spiritual leaders have been consulted, and true-crime TV shows and media outlets have raised the case to a national audience. All have turned up nothing
All investigators have found throughout the years is a smattering of potential suspects that they were never able to tie to the case, and two instances where people believed they had made contact with her. The case began in Gallup, with an early-morning knock on the family's front door in April 1986. Anthonette got up to answer it. That was the last time her family saw her. Initially, one of Anthonette's sisters told police that it was one of their uncles at the door, but he was ruled out as a suspect.
A year later, Gallup police received a call from someone who said they were Anthonette. The caller said they were in Albuquerque. The call, which lasted only 40 seconds, ended after a man's voice said, "Who said you could use the phone?" followed by a scream. Police could not locate the source of the call. Then, about five years after Anthonette's disapperance, a waitress in Carson City, Nevada, reported an encounter with a teenage customer, who investigators believed may have been the missing girl.
The girl, she said, was sitting with an "unkempt" couple and kept dropping her fork. When the waitress picked up the utensil, the girl squeezed her hand. After the three had left the restauraunt, the waitress discovered a note on a napkin which read "Help me! Call police." But nothing came of the possible lead, and the case has been cold ever since.
The 9-year-old disappeared from her home in Gallup.
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